MONTHLY  BULLETIN,  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


New  Series  No.  108.  University  Extension  Series  No.  27 


> 

BULLETIN  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


THE  UNIVERSITY  EXTENSION 

! DEPARTMENT  OF  PUBLIC  INFORMATION  AND  WELFARE 


MUNICIPAL  AFFAIRS 


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Norman,  Oklahoma 
J u n e , 1 9 1 6 


The  University  Bulletin,  published  by  the  university,  is  issued 
monthly.  Entered  at  the  postoffice  at  Norman,  as  second  clsss  matter, 
under  act  of  congress  of  August  24,  1912. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 

SECOND  ANNUAL  CONVENTION 

OF 

The  Oklahoma  Municipal  League 

HELD  AT 

OKLAHOMA  CITY  and  NORMAN 
December  9 and  10,  1915 


TOGETHER  WITH 

The  Constitution  of  the  Oklahoma  Municipal  League  and  a list  of 
Mayors  of  Oklahoma  Cities. 


ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME 

Ed  Overholser,  Mayor  of  Oklahoma  City,  Thursday  morning, 
December  9,  1915. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention: 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  welcome  to  Oklahoma  City,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Municipal  League  of  City  Officials  of  this  State. 
Much  good  should  result  from  the  meeting  and  exchange  cf 
ideas  of  City  Officers.  Not  one  of  us  but  can  learn  something 
from  the  other. 

I wish  to  leave  one  idea  with  you  and  that  is,  that  the  friend- 
liness and  co-operation  of  all  the  cities  in  the  State  is  the  one 
best  means  of  making  all  of  them  prosperous.  The  jealousy 
and  enmity  heretofore  existing  between  some  of  our  cities  is 
the  greatest  detriment  to  the  advancement  of  all;  use  your  time 
developing  your  own  towns  and  not  pulling  down  your  neigh- 
bors and,  remember  that  wheneevr  you  build  a building  or 
start  iai  business  inside  tlhe  boundaries  of  the  State,  we  all  profit 
in  a more  or  less  degree. 

We  are  pleased  to  have  you  choose  our  city  as  a meeting 
place  and  expect  to  make  the  request  that  you  choose  our  city 
as  your  permanent  pltace  of  this  convention  and  for  this  reason, 
I request  that  in  the  choosing  of  your  officers  you  let  us  remain 
in  the  position  of  host  and  do  not  consider  me  or  my  associates 
for  any  office  in  your  organization. 

I extend  to  you  a hearty  welcome  on  behalf  of  the  city,  its 
officers  and  myself. 


RESPONSE  AND  PRESIDENT’S  ADDRESS 

E.  S.  Ratliff,  Mayor  of  Ada,  President,  The  Oklahoma  Munici- 
pal League. 

Gentlemen  of  the  League: 

The  splendid  address  of  welcome  delivered  by  the  Mayor 
of  Oklahoma  City,  I am  sure  is  (appreciated  by  every  member  of 
this  organization.  Oklahoma  City,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  she  has  the  pleasure  as  well  las  the  responsibility  of  enter- 
taining divers  and  sundry  organizations  in  their  conventions 
assembled  has  never  failed  to  do  the  right  thing  in  the  wav  of 
furnishing  a royial  welcome  to  the  visitor  within  her  gates,  so 
far  as  we  have  learned.  I believe  that  it  affords  us  as  much 
pleasure  upon  this  occasion  to  be  present  with  the  Mayor  as  we 
furnish  the  Mayor  by  being  present. 

You  will  piardon  me  I am  sure,  if  I again  state  that  which  [ 
have  stated  before  to  some  of  you,  that  the  government  of  the 
cities  of  our  country  is  the  most  important  phase  of  govern- 
ment. The  reason  for  this  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  pres- 
sure of  population  is  constantly  cityward,  notwithstanding  the 
great  effort  being  miade  and  which  has  been  made  to  turn  the 
tide  of  population  back  to  the  farm.  It  is  said  that  in  England 
and  Wales  two-thirds  of  the  people  live  in  cities  of  more  than 
8000  population,  and  the  statement  goes  on  that  the  proportion 
is  as  great  in  the  United  States.  The  back  to  the  land  move- 
ment is  hindered  by  the  attractions  of  the  cities — which  we  by 
the  way  or  striving  to  make  more  attractive.  While  personally 
I am  a strong  believer  in  the  “back  to  the  farm”  movement,  be- 
lieving that  it  is  the  only  relief  to  be  had  for  the  poorer  classes 
of  our  large  cities,  I believe  that  as  people  will  and  must  live  in 
cities,  we  must  make  them  as  attractive  and  well-governed  as 
possible.  As  one  great  mayor  of  an  important  American  city 
said  not  long  since,  “The  surging  stream  of  life  as  it  moves 
through  the  city  presents  every  phase  of  the  problem  of  de- 
pendence. One  half  of  the  world  carries  the  other  half.  In  the 
cities  especially  is  this  true.  The  problem  of  organized  philan- 
thropy, as  well  as  of  organized  society  viewed  from  this  aspect 
is  to  hearten  up  the  disheartened;  to,  strengthen  the  manhood 


6 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


and  womanhood  of  individuals  under  adversity;  to  house  the 
homeless;  to  cure  the  sick;  to  ciare  for  the  deserted;  to  protect 
the  feeble;  to  surround  childhood  with  opportunity,  and  pro- 
tect it  from  temptation.  And  all  of  this  is  contributed  to,  and 
in  part  accomplished  by,  building  a city  fit  for  people  to  live  in, 
and  contributing-  with  our  sympathy  and  our  means  to  enter- 
prises which  have  this  problem  and  its  cure  as  their  vision.”  So 
desirable  as  it  may  be  to  relieve  the  congestion  by  sending  peo- 
ple back  to  the  farm,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  bulk  of  our  popu- 
lation will  continue  to  be  in  our  cities  and  towns.  To  give  to 
these  municipalities  more  perfect  forms  of  government  and 
generally  to  promote  the  welfare  of  city  dwellers  are  the  prob- 
lems to  be  worked  out  by  the  agencies  of  city  government.  To 
assist  in  the  solution  of  these  problems  is  the  underlying  pur- 
pose of  this  organization.  No  greater  one  inspired  or  impelled 
human  agency.  The  inspiration  however  in  some  instances 
comes  slowly,  as  was* recently  noted  in  an  editorial  in  the  Dallas 
News  commenting  upon  the  increase  in  attendance  at  (the  meet  - 
ing of  The  League  of  Texas  Municipalities.  It  went  on  to  say 
that,  “It  is  encouraging  to  hear  that  the  attendance  at  this  year’s 
meeting  of  the  League  of  Texas  Municipalities  being  held  at 
Greenville  is  larger  than  that  at  the  meeting  of  last  year.  The 
attendance  at  the  meetings  of  many  if  not  most  of  the  States 
organizations  has  shown  a diminishing  tendency,  and  that  of 
course  means  a waning  interest  in  the  matters  in  wTich  they 
are  concerned.  Municipal  management  is  still  pretty  much  a 
pristine  subject  with  us.  It  has  been  much  considered  but  :t 
has  been  worn  smooth  rather  than  penetrated  by  the  considera- 
tion it  has  received.  The  value  of  the  League  of  Texas  Munici- 
palities is  that  it  provides  a kind  of  museum  of  experiences. 
Knowledge  which  may  have  cost  one  man  a year’s  work  is  put 
on  deposit  for  common  use,  and  it  is  ja  peculiarity  of  such  funds 
that  they  are  replenished  by  being  drawn  against.  In  no  di- 
rection has  there  been  more  pronounced  progress  in  Texas 
than  in  that  of  municipal  government.  Doubtless  this  is  the  re- 
sult of  many  pauses,  and  not  the  least  of  them  is  the  interchange 
of  experience  that  takes  place  at  such  meetings  as  this  held  at 
Greenville.” 

There  is  a trite  old  saying  that  “you  can  lead  a horse  to 
water,  but  you  can’t  make  him  drink.”  So  it  seems  that  there 
are,  even  in  Oklahoma,  as  well  as  in  Texas,  still  city  officials 
who  will  not  drink  at  the  fountain  afforded  by  these  meetings. 


University  of  Oklahoma 


7 


This  same  thought  has  been  differently  expressed  in  the  story 
of  the  bartender  land  his  inebriate  and  sleepy  guest.  It  is  said 
that  the  bartender  grasped  his  guest  and  shook  him  until  he  was 
awake.  “Here,  Zeph,”  he  told  him,  “you’d  better  go  out  and 
get  some  fresh  air.  It  will  do  you  good.”  But  Zeph  merely 
grunted  and  huddled  back  in  his  chair.  The  bartender  tried  it 
again  with  the  same  result.  “You  won’t  get  out,  won’t  you?” 
he  roared  angrily.  Seizing  the  unfortunate  by  the  collar  and 
the  seat  of  the  trousers,  he  escorted  him  forcibly  to  the  alley. 
“Get  out  there  in  the  lair  and  brace  up,”  was  his  parting  advice. 
“Y’  kin  put  me  out  if  y’  like  but — Zeph  straightened  up  with 
drunken  dignity — ye  can’t  make  me  take  no  air,  durn  ye.”  Some 
writer  upon  the  question  of  city  government  has  said:  “Cities 
are  centers  of  influence;  if  corrupt,  the  whole  nation  is  con- 
taminated. If  their  government  is  a failure,  the  whole  nation  is 
endangered.”  In  city  government  and  in  the  management  of 
municipal  affairs  less  progress  seems  to  have  been  made  than 
in  governmental  affairs  of  state  and  nation.  Less  attention  has 
been  plaid  to  precedent,  and  there  has  not  been  the  gradual 
growth  of  the  firm  foundation,  such  as  that  upon  which  our 
.state  and  national  structures  are  erected.  This  in  the  main  du  ' 
in  my  judgment  to  the  fact  that  there  has  been  no  uniformity 
either  of  policy  or  of  opinion  upon  the  question  of  city  govern- 
ment. Each  city  lattempts  to  work  out  its  own  salvation,  and 
in  most  cases  if  not  with  fear,  it  is  done  with  much  trembling. 
It  is  regrettable  that  city  government  is  yet  in  this  chaotic 
state.  Precedent  and  experience  have  not  received  attention  as 
in  state  and  national  affairs.  The  tendency  of  the  times  is  to 
depart  from  the  ancient  landmarks.  City  government  as  well 
as  being  the  most  important  of  all  government  is  at  the  same 
time  the  most  difficult  of  all  government.  It  being  administra- 
tive in  its  nature,  the  city  official  is  brought  into  direct  con- 
tact with  his  constituency — dealing  with  them  face  to  face,  and 
as  it  were  frequently  man  to  man,  and  fortunate  indeed  is  that 
official  who  possesses  the  necessary  tact  and  at  the  same  time 
the  administrative  lability  to  cope  successfully  with  the  many 
questions  of  city  administration.  This  is  particularly  true  under 
a form  of  cty  government  where  the  responsibility  can  be  easily 
fixed — which  is  the  ideal  form  in  theory — in  myopinion.  I have 
heretofore  illustrated  the  distinction  in  difficulties  as  between  a 
city  official  and  other  officials  by  calling  attention  to  a news 
item  in  the  leading  newspaper  of  the  Southwest  the  next  day 


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University  of  Oklahoma 

after  the  inauguration  of  President  Wilson.  The  news  item 
stated  that  people  of  every  walk  of  life  in  a continuous  stream 
had  poured  into  Washington  from  every  voting  precinct — it  seem- 
ed— in  the  country.  It  went  on  to  state  that  great  as  was  that 
throng,  bent  as  it  were  upon  a political  mission,  there  was  doubt 
in  the  mind  of  the  writer  whether  one-half  of  those  present 
knew  the  name  of  their  congresman.  This  might  have  been  an 
exaggeration,  but  it  expreses  a significant  truth — a man  may  be 
elected  to  Congress  and  pass  from  the  vision  of  a majority  of  the 
electorate  in  a short  time.  But  place  him  in  an  administrative 
city  office  and  there’ll  be  none,  “no  not  one”  who  will  ever  forget 
him.  Every  known  system  of  government  has  been  tried  in  the 
city  affairs  and  many  of  them  found  wanting.  Yet  there  are  ex- 
plorers, busily  exploring  the  untried  main,  as  it  were  Columbus 
like,  ready  to  make  new  discoveries  and  to  try  out  new  systems, 
if  any  there  be,  and  some  of  them  like  Columbus  after  their  dis- 
coveries will  pass  over  into  that  city  “not  made  with  hands”, 
but  whose  “gates  are  of  pearl,  and  whose  streets  are  of  gold” 
without  really  ever  knowing  exactly  what  they  have  discovered 
In  fact  if  you  want  to  know  all  there  is  ordinarily  to  be  known 
about  raising  children,  by  all  means  consult  an  old  bachelor 
who  has  never  had  a child  and  whose  prospects  in  that  direc- 
tion are  very  indistinct;  if  you  desire  to  know  the  most  success- 
ful method  of  tilling  the  soil,  sowing  and  reaping  profitably,  g*o 
to  your  banker,  and  so  in  city  affairs  we  find  people  in  every 
city  in  the  State  of  Oklahoma,  who,  when  information  is  de- 
sired concerning  the  administration  of  city  affairs  will  go  to 
some  good  natured  fellow  who  really  has  never  given  the  mat- 
ter the  least  thought,  and  his  ideas  will  be  received  gladly,  and 
put  into  execution.  There  is  a “Citizen  Fixit”  in  every  com- 
munity, who  can  be  described  in  a little  poem  taken  from  the 
speech  of  one  of  Spokane,  Washington’s,  city  officials,  and 
which  runs  like  this: 

“There  was  a man  in  our  town, 

And  he  was  wondrous  wise; 

He  told  the  City  Fathers, 

They  should  economize. 

He  talked  about  the  budget 
In  a most  familiar  way, 

And  said  to  cut  the  levy 
Was  naught  but  children’s  play. 


University  of  Oklahoma 


9 


That  very  man  was  chosen. 

Much  to  his  own  surprise, 

To  scramble  through  the  brambles 
And  put  the  others  wise. 

But  when  he  saw  the  job  it  was. 

With  all  his  might  and  main. 

He  jumped  into  retirement — 

And  never  kicked  again.” 

Systems  and  forms  may  be  tried  and  tried  again,  and  new 
forms  and  systems  may  be  provided,  but  after  all  nothing  will 
take  the  place  of  good  character,  of  efficiency,  and  honesty  in 
-city  officials  no  matter  what  you  may  call  that  official.  An- 
other essential  which  probably  is  more  indespensable  than  the 
other  virtues  enumerated  above  is  ability  to  stand  punishment, 
for  you  know  that  won  the  world’s  championship  for  Jess  Wil- 
lard. We  of  Oklahoma  believe  that  we  in  municipal  matters 
are  restricted  in  matters  where  there  should  be  no  restriction. 
We  do  not  believe  that  a city  official  who  is  elected  by  the 
people  of  a city  and  made  responsible  to  that  people  for  its 
needs  and  the  satisfaction  therefor,  should  have  to  depend  on 
outside  influences  and  aid  from  other  officials,  when  it  comes  to 
raising  the  revenue  necessary  to  conduct  that  city’s  business. 
Hjowever  that  is  the  case  today,  and  unless  changes  are  made 
in  our  revenue  laws  that  condition  will  continue  to  exist  in  the 
future.  We  believe  that  the  city  official  should  not  only  be 
held  responsible  for  the  expenditure  of  the  funds  at  hand  for 
city  purposs,  but  that  he  should  be  absolutely  free  in  fixing  the 
amount  that  should  be  necessary  to  expend  in  any  given  mat- 
ter for  the  year.  This  is  impossible  under  our  revenue  laws, 
as  the  County  Excise  Board,  a majority  of  whom  frequently 
never  lived  in  a city  in  their  lives  and  who  know  nothing  what- 
ever about  city  needs  limits  and  in  some  instances  hamper  the 
city  officials  in  raising  the  necessary  revenue.  However,  this 
is  one  of  the  matters  which  the  legislative  committee  will  have 
to  report  ulpon.  And  in  this  connection  my  friends,  it  is  neces- 
sary for  us  it  seems  from  the  attitude  assumed  by  some  of  the 
legislators  comprising  the  present  legislature,  that  we  establish 
some  kind  of  reputation  among  them,  so  that  we  may  be  con- 
sidered seriously  w'hen  we  have  matters  which  we  desire  to 
call  to  their  attention  in  the  way  of  prospective  legislation.  We 
must  establish  ourselves  in  this  organization  in  this  state  to 
the  point  that  when  we  ask  for  legislation  upon  a given  sub- 


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The  University  of  Oklahoma 


ject  that  they  upon  sober  reflection  can  reach  the  conclusion 
that  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  should  be  resolved  in  our  favor 
rather  than  against  us — we  having  stuidied  the  matter  and  given 
it  our  endorsement.  I am  sorry  to  have  to  report  that  such 
was  not  the  case  in  the  last  legislature.  So  my  friends  these 
are  some  of  the  things  which  in  my  opinion  should  be  called  to 
your  attention.  We  must  keep  our  organization  perfected.  We 
must  be  enthusiastic  in  the  work.  We  must  not  become  inac- 
tive. We  must  not  cease  to  be  members  of  this  organization 
just  because  we  may  cease  to  be  city  officials.  I pledge  you  my 
word  that  I intend  to  remain  a member  of  this  organization,  if 
the  organization  will  permit  it  as  long  as  it  remains  an  organi- 
zation whether  I can  attend  all  the  meetings  or  not,  and  that 
means  that  I shall  attend  them  if  possible  so  to  do. 

Gentlemen  of  the  convention  I desire  to  express  to  3^011 

something  of  the  pleasure  it  has  afforded  me  to  assist  in  my 

humble  way  to  put  in  motion  the  wheels  of  this  organization, 
which  is  destined  to  accomplish  great  things.  I feel  that  it 
has  been  an  honor  to  have  been  its  president  in  its  beginning. 
If  it  accomplishes  the  good  that  this  meeting  bespeaks  for  the 
future  among  the  cities  and  towns  of  this  State  I shall  feel 
amply  rewarded,  as  I am  sure  you  other  gentlemen  will,  for 

the  efforts  whic'h  we  have  exerted.  It  is  a growing  empire  in 

which  we  live,  jand  some  of  us  have  seen  it  in  its  growing.  No 
country  upon  God’s  footstool  ha*s  equaled  it  either  in  its  gen 
eral  growth,  or  in  municipal  development.  Here  we  have  built 
cities  in  a night  as  it  were,  w'hich  in  other  climes  it  has  taken 
decades  to  build.  As  we  are  foremost  in  growth  we  should  also 
be  foremost  in  those  things  which  makes  for  municipal  ad- 
vancement generally.  I thank  you. 


THE  OKLAHOMA  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE;  WHAT  IT  IS; 
WHY  IT  IS;  AND  WHAT  IT  HOPES  TO  BE. 

C.  A.  Lamm,  Mayor  of  Bartlesville,  Vice-President,  Oklahoma 
Municipal  League,  Thursday,  December  9,  1915. 

Mr.  President,  Gentlemen: 

The  object  of  the  Oklahoma  Municipal  League  is  the  gen- 
eral improvement  and  facilitation  of  every  branch  of  municipal 
administration  by  the  following  means: 

First:  The  perpetuation  of  the  organization  as  an  agency 
for  the  co-operation  of  Oklahoma  cities  and  towns  in  the  prac- 
tical study  of  questions  pertaining  to  municipal  administration. 

Second:  The  holding  of  annual  conventions  for  the  dis- 
cussion of  municipal  affairs. 

Third:  The  establishment  and  maintenance  of  a central 
bureau  of  information  for  the  collection,  compilation  and  dis- 
semination of  statistics,  reports  and  all  other  kinds  of  informa- 
tion relative  to  municipal  government. 

In  other  words,  to  perpetuate  and  develop  the  League  as  an 
agency  for  the  co-operation  of  Oklahoma  cities  in  the  practical 
study  of  municipal  affairs;  to  promote  the  appropriation  of  die 
best  methods  in  all  branches  of  municipal  service,  by  holding 
at  least  one  convention  yearly,  for  the  discussion  of  problems 
in  City  Administration,  and  by  circulating  information  and  ex- 
perience thereon;  and  to  secure  legislation  which  would  be 
beneficial  to  the  cities  of  the  State  and  the  citizens  thereof  and 
to  oppose  legislation  injurious  thereto. 

Any  city  or  town  within  the  State  of  Oklahoma,  may  be- 
come a member  of  this  organization  upon  payment  of  dues  as 
follows:  Less  than  1,000  population,  $5.00;  1,000  to  5,000  popu- 
lation, $10.00;  5,000  to  10,000  population,  $15.00;  10,000  to  20,000 
population,  $20.00 ;20, 000  to  50,000  population,  $30.00;  over  50,000 
population,  $40.00.  All  city  officials — mayors,  commissioners, 
councilmen,  city  attorneys,  treasurers  and  city  clerks  are  con- 
sidered active  members  of  this  organization  upon  payment  of 
annual  dues  by  their  respective  city. 

The  sole  purpose  of  the  league  is  the  betterment  of  the  cities 
of  this  State.  It  has  no  ulterior  motive,  no  sordid  interest,  no 


12  University  of  Oklahoma 

selfish  ambitions  to  forward,  either  community,  sectional  or 
personal.  It  is  for  all  the  cities,  all  the  time. 

WHY  IT  IS. 

The  very  latest  manifestation  of  new  interest  in  governmen- 
tal affairs  is  indicated  by  the  relatively  large  position  now  held 
in  the  public  eye  by  the  city  and  its  management.  The  mere 
existence  of  a league  such  as  ours  is  sufficient  proof  of  this  as- 
sertion. It  has  been  too  much  the  rule  in  the  past  that  public 
spirited  citizens  of  large  influence  and  ability  have  devoted 
themselves  to  State  and  National  politics  and  have  considered 
city  affairs  beneath  their  notice.  The  result  has  been  that 
municipal  problems  and  politics  have  often  been  settled  by 
men  of  small  attainments  and  limited  vision.  The  natural  ten- 
dency of  men  of  this  type  is  to  do  business  on  a small  scale 
and  without  a view  of  the  future.  As  an  illustration,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  note  the  number  of  growing  cities  of  this  country 
where  things  have  had  to  be  done  over  at  vast  additional  ex- 
pense because  they  were  not  properly  planned  with  an  eye  to 
the  city’s  growing  possibilities  in  the  first  place.  But  fortu- 
nately the  day  of  this  method  of  doing  business  is  passing 
away.  People  are  giving  more  and  more  attention  to  the  busi- 
ness of  running  the  city,  and  the  city  is  attracting  men  of 
greater  ability.  This  growing  interest  is  then,  largely  respon- 
sible for  an  organization  of  municipalities  throughout  many  of 
the  States,  and  the  Oklahoma  Municipal  League  is  the  outcome 
of  this  interest  on  the  part  of  the  progressive  municipalities 
and  its  officers  within  our  own  State. 

Through  the  League,  there  is  a large  and  growing  literature 
dealing  with  various  phases  of  city  government  and  adminis- 
tration. Professors  of  political  science,  men  of  large  affairs, 
and  statesmen  are  giving  more  and  more  attention  to  munici- 
pal matters.  The  universities,  and  especially  the  state  univer- 
sities are  establishing  municipal  reference  bureaus  of  research 
in  connection  with  their  extension  departments. 

A survey  of  the  field  will  show  that  some  of  the  best  minds 
of  the  country  are  giving  attention  to  the  affairs  of  the  cities 
and  that  without  any  loss  of  dignity.  And  one  of  the  most 
significant  signs  of  the  times  is  the  formation  o i State  Leagues 
of  Municipalities — significant  because  it  indicates  a willingness 
to  abandon  independent  and  wasteful  individual  efforts  for  the 
better  plan  of  bringing  together  common  experience,  common 


University  of  Oklahoma 


13 


conditions,  and  common  brains  for  the  co-operative  study  and 
solution  of  common  problems. 

Progress  is  always  made  easier  and  more  rapid  when  the 
failures  of  others  need  not  be  repeated,  and  when  the  successes 
of  others  may  be  duplicated. 

Men  band  together  for  many  purposes — why  not  for  the 
purpose  of  perfecting  the  processes  and  results  of  municipal  ad- 
ministration and  government?  At  any  rate  this  fact  speaks 
for  itself.  City  officials  became  tired  of  groping  in  the  dark, 
of  making  unnecessary  and  costly  experiments  when  naturally 
there  was  a great  common  fund  of  knowledge,  facts  and  experi- 
ence to  draw  from.  Therefore,  they  naturally  came  together 
for  mutual  counsel  and  advice,  and  for  exchange  of  experiences. 
This  was  the  basic  fact  which  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
Municipal  Leagues. 


WHAT  IT  HOPES  TO  BE. 

As  the  League  grows  older,  problems  of  policy  arise  arid 
grow  perplexing.  The  proper  solution  of  these  problems  will 
have  much  to  do  with  the  permanence,  the  final  usefulness  and 
value  of  this  organization.  The  officers  and  members  of  this 
League  will  be  confronted  with  many  questions.  In  the  first 
place  it  Should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  League  is  an  intsru- 
ment  for  study,  investigation  and  research.  Information,  re- 
sults, facts,  experiences — these  are  what  we  are  after.  All 
other  functions  of  the  organization  should  be  subordinate  to 
this  one  great  end.  The  public  cannot  afford  to  pay  expenses 
for  junkets,  and  yet  citizens  will  gladly  authorize  expenditures 
that  produce  unbiased  and  authentic  information,  and  thus  re- 
dound to  the  public  good. 

The  unprejudiced  and  critical  study  of  municipal  questions 
in  the  cold  light  of  reason,  and  from  a scientific  viewpoint,  con- 
stitute the  ideal  which  should  be  held  before  this  organization. 
Thus,  information  may  come  from  papers,  read  at  the  conven- 
tion, through  the  exchange  of  experiences  in  the  discussions,  or 
through  visiting  public  works  in  the  city  where  the  convention 
is  held. 

Another  proper  function  for  the  League  is  to  maintain  a 
place  where  expert  service  may  be  had  for  any  city  however 
small.  The  large  city  can  afford  to  maintain  its  own  reference 


H 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


library,  while  the  smaller  towns  and  cities  cannot,  and  there  ' 
fore  they  should  all  band  together  to  secure  this  co-operative 
service.  This  can  be  done  by  the  League  through  its  affilia- 
tion with  the  State  University.  The  facilities  are  already  in  the 
University,  and  need  only  to  be  co-ordinated  to  be  at  the  ser- 
vice of  the  cities  and  towns.  Here  in  one  office,  statistics  may 
be  compiled  for  all;  the  benefit  of  practical  ordinances  may  be 
secured;  municipal  reports  kept  on  file,  and  books  on  all  munici- 
pal subjects  secured  and  kept  for  circulation.  Thus  the  Muni- 
cipal Refernce  Bureau  acts  as  a clearing  house  of  information 
gathered  from  the  various  municipalities  and  aided  by  the  Uni- 
versity. 

The  primary  basis  of  the  League  is  to  procure  for  its  mem- 
bers, reliable  information  as  a basis  on  which  action  may  safely 
be  taken.  This  information  is  obtained  (1st)  through  annual 
conventions,  and  (2nd)  through  maintaining  an  information  or 
reference  bureau  available  for  service  all  the  year  round.  A 
secondary  benefit  is  a clarifying  of  ideas  through  discussion  and 
4ebate  at  conventions,  and  the  stirring  up  of  cities  to  genreous 
emulation  of  public  improvements  through  hearing  of  what 
others  have  done.  Information,  discussion,  comparison,  clari- 
fication, resolution,  action — these  are  the  regular  steps  in  the 
process  of  improvement.  Moreover,  there  is  wisdom  in  many 
counsellors  and  there  can  be  no  question  that  a course  of  ac- 
tion, or  of  policy,  determined  upon  after  conference  and  delib- 
eration among  men  of  experience,  and  carried  out  with  a cer- 
tain degree  of  uniformity,  will,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  vindi- 
cate its  wisdom  and  find  favor  with  the  public.  Moreover,  there 
is  prestige  behind  such  as  organization.  It  tends  to  establish 
a high  standard  of  efficiency  in  administration,  and  by  the  new 
tendency  toward  a certain  uniformity,  a better  quality  of  service 
is  obtained. 

An  entirely  legitimate  and  important  function  of  a State 
League  is  the  promotion  of  municipal  legislation.  Here  is 
where  the  efficiency  of  an  organization  is  demonstrated.  The 
representative  of  a single  city  or  even  a half-dozen  cities  gets 
scant  consideration  during  the  rush  of  a legislative  session. 
The  thing  they  ask  for  often  seems  trivial  and  unimportant  to 
the  Legislature  beside  its  questions  of  statewide  interest,  and 
yet,  that  very  thing  may  be  absolutely  vital  to  the  cities.  The 
desired  bill  or  amendment  often  fails  of  passage — not  because 
of  any  opposition,  but  because  of  sheer  inertia — the  lack  of 


University  of  Oklahoma  15 

driving  power  behind  it.  Here  is  where  a united  effort  through 
an  organization  such  as  our  State  League,  gets  results. 

Right  here  is  where  I wish  to  comment  upon  the  good  work 
done  by  our  Legislative  Committee  during  the  last  session  of 
the  State  Legislature.  While  they  did  not  get  all  they  asked 
for,  yet  they  did  splendid  work  in  securing  the  passage  of  some 
very  good  laws  directly  affecting  municipalities.  By  more  con- 
certed effort  on  the  part  of  the  State  League,  much  good  can  be 
accomplished  at  future  sessions  of  the  Legislature  to  secure  for 
us  much  needed  legislation. 

We  should,  of  course,  bear  in  mind  that  our  League  must 
be  non-partisan,  and  all  efforts  toward  legislation  must  be  with 
the  one  object  in  view — that  of  creating  a higher  standard  and 
better  laws  for  municipal  efficiency. 

In  conclusion,  permit  me  to  state  that  while  this  is  the 
second  annual  convention  of  the  Oklahoma  Municipal  League, 
we  hjave  a paid  up  membership  of  sixteen  cities.  We  should, 
by  united  effort,  double  this  membership  during  the  ensuing 
year.  Each  individual  member  should  work  unceasingly  with 
this  object  in  view.  By  the  support  and  co-operation  of  our 
present  membership,  there  is  no  reason  why  this  cannot  be 
done. 

I trust  on  the  occasion  of  our  third  annual  convention  the 
Oklahoma  Municipal  League  will,  in  point  of  membership,  rank 
with  the  older  leagues  of  cities  in  the  sister  states  of  Kansas, 
Nebraska,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota  and  others. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  THE  MUNICIPALITIES 

Dr.  Stratton  D.  Brooks,  President  of  the  University  of  Okla- 
homa. Thursday  morning,  December  9,  1915. 

In  order  to  determine  in  what  way  a university  may  be  of 
value  to  municipal  officers  it  may  be  well  to  consider  briefly  the 
general  purposes  of  a university.  It  has  long  been  recognized 
that  the  business  of  ,a  university  is  to  discover  knowledge,  to 
preserve  knowledge,  and  to. distribute  knowledge.  In  the  fields 
of  research  the  university  and  university  men  have  given  vast 
amounts  of  time  and  energy  in  the  endeavor  to  extend  the 
boundaries  of  human  knowledge.  Much  of  that  which  we  in 
this  age  consider  commonplace,  is  the  result  of  applying  the 
facts  and  principles  discovered  through  the  research  of  scholar- 
ly men.  It  is  impossible  to  place  any  limit  of  valuation  on  the 
results  of  work  of  this  kind.  Perry  G.  Holden  alone,  by  his 
experiments  in  the  growing  of  corn,  has  increased  the  produc- 
tivity in  this  country  by  more  millions  each  year  than  would 
be  required  to  pay  the  expense  of  all  the  universities  in  this 
country  from  the  beginning  to  the  present  time. 

The  services  that  universities  have  rendered  in  preserving 
knowledge  are  equally  valuable.  If  it  were  not  for  thir  efforts, 
much  that  is  of  great  importance  to  the  present  generation 
would  long  ago  have  disappeared  from  human  consciousness. 

The  function  of  the  university  in  the  distribution  of  knowl- 
edge, however,  is  more  commonly  recognized  than  is  its  duty 
in  the  other  two  fields.  Many  of  us  frequently  think  of  a uni- 
versity merely  as  a place  where  students  learn  that  which  is  set 
down  in  textbooks  or  presented  to  them  in  lectures  by  their 
professors.  It  has  often  been  seriously  doubted  that  what  they 
learn  is  valuable,  or  that  the  process  of  learning  it  will  fit  them 
better  for  the  work  in  life.  Of  recent  years,  however,  there  has 
been  a clearer  recognition  of  the  duty  of  a university  to  distri- 
but  knowledge  in  a much  more  immediately  effective  and  far 
wider  way.  The  university  no  longer  limits  itself  to  the  in- 
struction of  pupils  who  can  come  to  it,  but  it  goes  afield  seek- 
ing to  distribute  knowledge  wherever  that  knowledge  may  be 
useful.  Under  the  old  system  knowledge  might  be  largely 
theoretical,  under  the  new  system  it  must  be  eminently  prac- 


University  of  Oklahoma 


17 


tical.  Whatever  the  university  takes  into  the  forum  of  public 
discussion  must  be  applicable  to  the  daily  life  of  the  people, 
and  presented  in  useable  form  or  it  will  not  be  willingly  receiv- 
ed. The  effect,  therefore,  is  that  in  universities  the  most  caie- 
l'ul  attention  has  of  necessity  been  given  to  directing  its  re- 
search towards  those  things  which  are  definitely  practical,  to 
the  sorting  out  from  the  body  of  known  knowledge  that  which 
is  useful  in  this  day  and  age,  and  to  the  preparing  of  this  ma- 
terial in  such  a way  that  it  will  reach  and  affect  the  living  con- 
ditions of  the  whole  state.  In  short,  it  is  the  business  of  a uni- 
versity to  consider  these  things  in  such  a way,  and  to  teach 
them  in  such  a way  that  they  will  affect  for  the  better  the  com- 
munity, the  state,  and  the  nation. 

One  of  the  great  purposes  of  a university  is  to  affect  the 
conditions  of  civilization  by  preparing  men  who,  because  of  the 
breadth  and  depth  of  their  preparation,  are  qualified  to  be  real 
h aders  in  the  advancement  of  civilization.  In  the  past,  the 
greatest  effort  of  the  university  has  been  devoted  to  this  end. 
But  in  this  day  and  age  the  universities  of  the  land  are  endeav- 
oring to  have  a more  immediate  effect  by  reaching  here  and 
there  with  valuable  help  and  suggestions  the  men  who  are  now 
in  control  of  affairs.  I conceive  it  therefore  the  business  cf  a 
university  to  so  conduct  its  courses  and  to  so  manage  its  busi- 
ness that  in  every  possible  way  in  addition  to  its  other  fields  of 
labor  it  shall  render  assistance  to  the  officers  in  charge  of  our 
various  municipalities  throughout  the  state. 

The  governing  of  a modern  city  is  becoming  a.  complex, 
scientific  problem.  With  the  growth  of  information,  with  the 
increase  of  scientific  knowledge,  with  the  multiciplicity  of 
problems  arising  because  of  our  changes  in  transportation  and 
in  living  conditons,  and  with  our  growing  ideals  of  government, 
the  situation  confronting  municipal  officers  is  entirely  different 
from  that  which  confronted  them  even  a generation  ago. 

Germany  has  long  recognized  that  the  problems  of  munici- 
pal government  can  only  be  efficiently  solved  when  placed  in 
the  hands  of  persons  thoroughly  qualified  to^serve  as  experts. 
In  this  country  there  is  a growing  belief  and  rapidly  widening 
practice  to  place  more  and  more  of  the  activities  of  municipal 
government  in  the  hands  of  such  experts.  We  are,  however, 
still  confronted  with  the  fact  that  in  most  cities  the  officials  of 
all  kinds  change  with  comparative  rapidity  and  almost  as  soon 
as  a man  has  by  experience  learned  how  to  mange  his  deprt- 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


IS 

ment  efficiently,  the  rule  of  rotation  in  office  demands  that  the 
position  be  given  to  some  other  loyal  party  member.  Conse- 
quently, it  is  highly  important  that  there  shall  be  some  source 
of  information,  readily  accessible,  to  which  these  rapidly  chang- 
ing officials  may  turn  for  /advice  and  assistance  that  is  sure  to  be. 
accurate,  reliable,  and  unprejudiced. 

The  mere  summary  of  the  problems  confronting  city  of- 
ficials will  serve  to  show  how  important  it  is  to  have  such  as- 
sistance available.  For  example,  results  of  years  of  careful 
study  with  reference  to  the  proper  managment  of  the  police  de- 
partment should  be  available  wherever  needed.  The  experience 
of  other  cities  in  the  problem  of  preventing  crime,  and  of  de- 
tecting crime,  and  in  the  regulation  or  solving  of  vice  problems, 
and  similar  questions,  would,  if  available,  prevent  the  repetition 
of  costly  errors.  Then  there  is  the  great  problem  of  the  health 
of  citizens;  how  best  to  manage  the  department  so  as  to  pre- 
vent contagious  diseases,  what  ordinances  may  be  established 
and  enforced  in  accordance  with  our  present  laws  and  statutes 
for  the  protection  of  public  health  and  the  suppression  of  nuis- 
ances. There  are  likewise  the  problems  connected  with  the  es- 
tablishing of  a sewer  system,  that  shall  be  not  only  economical 
but  efficient.  Closely  allied  to  such  problems  are  the  general 
problems  of  engineering.  For  example,  the  kind  of  pavements 
that  are  most  satisfactory,  and  under  what  conditons  they 
should  be  laid.  I have  no  doubt  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  have  already  been  wasted  in  this  state  by  the  employ- 
ment of  incompetent  engineers  who  have  expended  the  public 
money  in  accordance  with  plans  that  any  competent  person 
could  in  a short  time  have  shown  to  be  so  drawn  as  to  render 
failure  inevitable.  There  are  also  municipal  problems  in  con- 
nection with  city  lighting,  the  proper  rates  that  may  be  charg- 
ed, and  the  conditions  under  which  franchises  for  water  and 
light  may  be  granted,  concerning  which  the  universities  should 
collect  and  have  available  much  information.  Similarly,  there 
should  be  available  the  results  of  the  experience  of  others  in 
the  management  of  the  poor.  Public  recreation,  the  advant- 
ages of  parks  add  playgrounds  and  the  problem  of  their  estab- 
lishment and  management  demand  attention.  These  are  live 
questions  with  every  municipal  body  and  on  which  informa- 
tion should  be  readily  accessible.. 

The  point  that  I am  particularly  reaching  is  that  in  these 
and  many  other  problems  the  university  has  available  a vast 


University  of  Oklahoma 


19 


fund  of  informtion  which,  if  it  is  properly  arranged  and  proper- 
ly correlated,  may  be  made  available  in  every  community  in  this 
state.  By  properly  conducting  a municipal  reference  bureau 
to  which  every  officer  may  freely  apply  much  reliable  informa- 
tion may  become  immediately  available  for  the  solution  of 
problems  as  they  arise  from  day  to  day.  The  university  pro- 
fessors, giving  as  they  do,  their  entire  time  to  the  study  of  the 
specialized  departments  are  able  to  accumulate  a more  definite 
and  a more  extensive  knowledge  than  most  city  officials  are 
likely  to  acquire.  To  be  sure  this  knowledge  may  be  largely 
theoretical  but  when  these  professors  are  brought  face  to  face 
with  skilled  and  practical  men  who  have  knowledge  in  the  ac- 
tual work  of  municipal  management,  the  theoretical  will  soon 
become  practical.  Not  only  will  the  municipjalities  and  their 
officers  profit  but  so  also  will  the  professors. 

I would  not,  however,  have  you  infer  that  the  services  of  the 
university  to  the  city  is  in  any  way  limited  to  the  items  that  I 
have  sketched.  I have  merely  tried  to  point  out  a few  of  the 
items  in  which  the  university  reaches  the  particular  and  special 
business  of  the  cities.  To  the  whole  life  of  the  community, 
however,  the  university  bears  a very  vital  relation.  You  will 
find  its  graduates  teaching  your  school,  you  will  find  the  stu- 
dents from  the  School  of  Commerce  and  Industry  taking  active 
p'art  in  your  businesses.  The  theoretical  study  of  banking  and 
of  economics  in  general  is  giving  way  in  the  School  of  Industry 
to  the  practical  consideration  of  the  important  businesses  of 
life.  The  professional  men  of  youir  cities  will,  in  large  num- 
bers, be  prepared  by  the  university.  You  will  find  among  these 
your  most  successful  educators,  your  ablest  lawyers,  your 
journalists,  your  pharmacists,  your  engineers,  your  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
workers  and  your  ministers.  In  short,  the  whole  life  of  the 
city  as  well  as  those  particular  activities  that  depend  very 
largely  upon  the  municipal  officers  in  control,  receives  incalcul- 
able help  from  the  university.  That  such  is  the  case  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  the  present  tendency  in  the  United  States  is  for 
the  largest  cities  to  establish  their  own  city  universities,  such 
as  that  of  Cincinnati  and  Toledo,  even  though  there  are  many 
colleges  and  universities  in  the  adjacent  territory.  Let  us  hope, 
therefore,  that  as  the  years  go  along,  the  municipal  officers  in 
this  state  and  the  State  University  may  find  increasing  points  of 
contact  that  will  enable  each  to  render  valuable  assistance  to 
the  other. 


BENEFIT  OF  LEAGUES  OF  MUNICIPALITIES. 


Mr.  Homer  Talbot,  Lawerence,  Kansas,  Secretary  League 
of  Kansas  Municipalities,  and  Head  of  Municipal  Reference 
Bureau,  University  of  Kansas.  Thursday  afternoon,  Decem- 
ber 9,  1915 

I want  to  expres  my  appreciation  on  behalf  of  the  League 
of  Kansas  Municipalities  and  the  University  of  Kansas,  of  the 
invitation  to  be  with  you  at  this  convention.  We  have  one 
hundred  and  thirty-two  cities  which  are  members  of  our  mun- 
icipal league,  and  we  believe  that  co-operation  between  the  c;t- 
;es  of  a state  and  between  the  different  states  and  state  munici- 
pal leagues,  will  be  one  of  the  most  helpful  things  that  can  be 
achieved  for  city  and  town  betterment  in  this  country. 

It  was  our  pleasure  at  our  meeting  last  year  to  have  Mr. 
Hugh  J.  Cooper  of  Weatherford,  your  state,  present  to  tell  us 
of  the  establishment  of  the  first  municipal  ice  plant  in  the  Unit- 
ed States,  in  his  city.  It  attracted  a great  deal  of  attention  in 
Kansas  and  is  an  instance  of  practical  co-operation  between 
state  leagues  of  municipalities. 

I will  confess  I came  here  largely  to  take  back  to  our  Kans- 
as cities  information  in  regard  to  three  things:  first,  the  oper- 
ation of  your  municipal  home  rule  powers;  second,  the  results 
of  your  measures  of  self-government — the  initiative  and  refer- 
endum; third,  the  working  of  municipal  ownership  in  this  state. 

In  Kansas  we  have  194  of  210  water  plants  owned  by  the 
municipalities — a percentage  of  92.3.  Your  percentage  is  about 
the  same.  In  Kansas  we  have  more  than  a majority  of  the 
light  plants  municipally  owned.  Our  percentage  is  53.  Yours 
is  43.9  percent. 

I want  to  congratulate  you  on  having  this  organization  in 
this  state.  I feel  certain  it  will  prove  of  splendid  service  to 
the  people  of  the  cities  and  towns  of  Oklahoma. 

A league  of  municipalities  may  be  a power  for  good  govern- 
ment— or  just  another  organization. 

The  potential  effectiveness  of  such  an  association  as  a means 
of  bringing  about  better  municipal  legislation,  better  adminis- 


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21 


tration  and  better  conditions  of  living  for  the  people  of  the 
communities  of  a state,  can  hardly  be  overestimatd. 

Consider  the  opportunities  for  service  of  a municipal  league. 
Common  discusion  of  local  government  problems  is  afforded 
at  its  meetings:  a clearing-house  of  municipal  information  is 
maintained  in  the  secretary’s  office;  a publication  issued  at 
regular  intervals  throughout  the  year  keeps  the  officials  of 
membership  cities,  and  others,  in  touch  with  the  municipal  ex- 
periences and  progress  of  other  communities;  and  opportunity 
is  provided  for  concerted  action  in  furthering  the  adoption  of 
needed  municipal  legislation,  and  in  opposing  the  enactment 
of  bills  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  people  of  the  munici- 
palities. 

The  scope  and  extent  of  the  benefits  derived  by  the  com- 
munities of  ,a  state  from  their  participation  in  an  organization 
such  as  the  Oklahoma  Municipal  League,  is  dependent  upon 
three  main  factors: 

1.  The  spirit  of  the  executive  officers; 

2.  Adequate  facilities  for  carrying  on  the  work  of  the 
league;  and 

3.  The  response  of  the  officials  of  the  cities  and  towns  of 
the  state,  and  the  friendly  interest  of  the  newspapers.  This 
response  will  largely  be  determined  by,  and  depend  upon,  the 
two  matters  juist  named.  The  first  factor;  the  spirit  of  the  ex- 
ecutive officials  of  the  league. 

The  first  essential  to  the  succes  of  an  organization  of  this 
kind,  in  my  judigment,  is  the  character  of  the  men  in  active 
charge  of  its  activities. 

An  illustration  may  be  given.  The  past  two  years  the 
League  of  Kansas  Municipalities,  now  numbering  132  cities 
and  towns  as  active  members,  has  been  fortunate  in  having  as 
its  president,  C.  W.  Green,  mayor  of  Kansas  City,  Kansas;  and 
a vice-president  and  board  of  trustees  who  have  worked  to- 
gether harmoniously  and  effectively. 

Mayor  Green,  our  president,  possesses  in  unusual  degree 
these  elements:  high  personal  character,  public  spirit,  un- 
selfishness, (a  belief  in  self-government,  faith  in  the  ability  of 
municipalities  to  govern  themselves  and  to  provide  public  util- 
ity service  more  fairly  and  efficiently  than  private  interests  can 
do;  courage,  energy,  tact  and  executive  ability.  A splendid 
combination. 

A result  to  the  League  was  that  of  fixing  in  the  minds  of 


22  University  of  Oklahoma 

the  people  of  the  state  the  fact  that  our  organization  stood 
actively  and  aggressively  for  genuine  municipal  betterment,  of 
benefit  to  the  people  of  Kansas  localities. 

We  are  fortunate,  too,  in  our  new  president,  W.  L.  Porter, 
commissioner  of  parks,  Topeka,  our  vice-president,  and  our 
trustees. 

Should  one  ask  of  a California  city  official  the  reasons  of 
the  success  of  the  league  of  municipalities  of  his  state  he  could 
hardly  fail  to  mention  the  splendid  work  of  H.  A.  Mason — a 
fine,  high-minded,  democratic  man — who  for  seventeen  years 
has  been  connected  in  an  executive  capacity  with  the  organi- 
zation. 

As  to  adequate-  facilities  for  carrying  on  the  work  of  a league 
such  as  yours;  this  is  vital  to  obtaining  effectiveness.  Suffici- 
ent financial  support  by  the  cities  is  essential. 

In  this  as  in  the  case  of  any  other  service  worth  consider- 
ation, there  are  necessary  expenses.  These*  should  be  met  by 
the  membership  cities  gladly  and  willingly.  Necessary  ex- 
penses for  the  publication  of  material  of  importance  to  the 
league  and  its  municipalities,  for  the  meetings  themselves,  for 
a publication  going  for  example,  monthly,  to  the  mayors,  com- 
missioners, city  clerks,  engineers  and  attorneys  of  the  mem- 
bership cities,  necessary  expenses  of  members  of  the  legislative 
committee  in  representing  the  interests  of  the  municipalities 
before  the  legislature — these  are  among  the  items  of  disburse- 
ments of  active  and  effective  municipal  leagues. 

One  of  the  greatest  causes  of  failures  or  weaknesses  of. 
organizations  such  as  this  has  been  too  low  tables  of  dues. 
This  lesson  has  been  learned  by  the  leagues  of  California,  Iowa 
and  Kansas  municipalities,  and  it  is  an  important  one.  Permit 
the  reading  of  the  dues  schedule  of  the  League  of  California 
Municipalities,  which  has  been  in  force  for  many  years: 


Cities  having  a population  of  less  than  1,000 J $10.00 

Cities  over  1,000  and  less  than  3,000 20.00 

Cities  over  3,000  and  less  than  10,000 30.00 

Cities  over  10,000  and  less  than  30,000 40.00  , 

Cities  over  30,000  and  less  than  150,000 50.00 

Cities  over  150,000 60.00 

At  the  last  meeting  of  our  league  of  Kansas,  the  following 
table  wia's  adopted: 

Cities  of  less  than  1,000  population $ 5.00 

1,000  to  2,000  _• 10.00 


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2.000  to  3,000  15.00 

3.000  to  5,000  20.00 

5.000  to  10,000  30.000 

10.000  to  30,000  40.00 

30.000  to  50,000  — 50.00 

All  over  50,000  60.00 


In  the  judgment  of  our  convention,  the  minimum  dues  to 
any  city  should  not  be  less  than  $10  a year.  In  our  case,  a state 
law  prevents  a direct  charge  of  more  than  $5  a year  dues  in 
our  organization  to  be  paid  by  cities  of  1,000  or  less  population. 

The  third  element  in  the  success  of  municipal  betterment 
associations  such  as  this,  is  the  response  received.  The  co- 
operation of  the  officials  of  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  state  is 
essential.  The  officers  of  those  municipalities  already  partici- 
pating in  the  work  of  the  league  should  spread  the  word  of 
what  the  organization  is,  the  tidings  of  what  it  is  doing — and 
extend  cordial  invitations  to  non-member  cities  to  come  into 
the  organization. 

The  co-operation  of  the  press  of  the  state  is  most  desirable 
and  beneficial.  The  newspapers  as  a class  are  interested  in 
movements  for  better  municipal  government — particularly  as 
related  to  better  conditions  directly  affecting  the  people  of 
their  communities.  It  is  believed  they  will  generally  be  found 
actively  interested  in  the  work  and  results  of  municipal  better- 
ment associations. 

What  now  are  the  services  and  benefits  of  a municipal  league? 

First,  the  annual  meeting.  This  varies  in  length  in  different 
leagues  from  a single  part-day  session,  to  a five-days’  conven- 
tion. Our  league  holds  annual  three-days’  meetings.  Two 
days’  time  seemed  to  be  too  short  for  the  business  of  our  con- 
ferences, so  the  three-day  plan  was  adopted.  Three  sessions 
are  held  the  first  two  days,  and  one  or  two  the  third. 

The  sessions  are  of  two  kinds — general  and  departmental. 
At  the  general  meetings  topics  of  interest  to  all  or  a large  num- 
ber of  the  cities  represented  are  discussed,  and  the  business  of 
the  league  conducted. 

It  is  a rule  of  the  general  meetings  that  all  papers  and  dis- 
cussions by  speakers  shall  be  subject  to  questions  by  the  del- 
egates. This  has  proved  valuable. 

As  to  the  the  departmental  sessions.  At  our  last  conven- 
tion, at  Hutchinson,  October  13,  14  and  15,  almost  an  entire 
morning  was  given  to  the  separate  meetings  of  the  following 


24  University  of  Oklahoma 

groups  of  officials:  representatives  of  cities  of  the  first  class 
having  commission  governments;  cities  of  the  second  class 
with  commission  government,  cities  of  thefirst  class  and  sec- 
ond class  under  the  mayor-council  form,  cities  of  the  third  class, 
city  clerks  and  accounting  officers,  city  engineers,  and  the  ques- 
tion box  committee  and  city  attorneys. 

These  separate  departmental  meetings  are  one  of  the  most 
valuable  features  of  our  convention. 

Next  year  it  is  planned  to  provide  an  entire  session  for  this 
purpose. 

The  department  meetings  may  make  such  reports  to  the 
general  convention  as  they  see  fit,  and  may  recommend  such 
matters  for  attention  and  action  of  the  league  as  they  may  de- 
sire. 

Among  the  subjects  discussed  at  the  general  sessions  of 
our  last  meeting  were:  municipal  home  rule,  by  the  chairman 
of  the  legislative  committe  of  the  league;  municipal  ownership 
fights,  victories  and  results  in  Larned,  Pratt  and  Garden  City, 
by  representatives  from  those  municipalities;  discussion  of  self- 
government  measures,  by  the  secretary  of  the  National  Pop- 
lar Government  League;  municipal  child  hygiene,  by  the  chief 
of  the  division  of  the  child  hygiene,  state  board  of  health;  re- 
port of  the  league  committee  on  judicial  decisions;  reports  of 
municipalities,  and  a discusion  and  demostration  of  automob^e 
fire  apparatus. 

The  convention  resolved  to  center  the  efforts  of  the  league 
in  a legislative  way  on  the  achievement  of  municipal  home  rule. 
It  also  strongly  approved  the  submission  by  the  legislature,  and 
adoption,  of  an  honestly  drawn  and  workable  initiative  and  ref- 
erendum amendment  to  the  state  constitution. 

The  second  municipal  league  service  mentioned  was  that  of 
the  information  bureau  maintained  in  the  secretary’s  office.  In 
our  case  the  secretary  of  the  league  is  head  of  the  municipal 
reference  bureau  of  the  extension  division  of  the  state  univer- 
sity. An  arrangement  of  this  kind  is  also  in  effect  in  the  Wis- 
consin, Minnesota  and  Washington  leagues.  In  California  and 
Iowa  the  entire  time  of  a man  is  taken  by  each  of  the  two 
municipal  organizations. 

To  the  secretary’s  office  come  requests  for  information  on 
nearly  every  subject  of  municipal  activity.  Here  are  a few: 
concrete  sidewalk  specifications;  paving  ordinances;  data  as 
to  provisions  made  for  municipal  band  concerts  in  other  cities 


University  of  Oklahoma 


25 


serial  bond  issues;  ordinances  regulating  the  speed  of  motor 
cars;  water  rates  in  other  cities;  procedure  for  calling  a special 
election  to  vote  bonds  for  a municipal  light  plant,  etc.  This  in- 
informiation  and  ordinance  drafting  service  is  one  of  the  most 
popular  of  a league’s  activities. 

One  of  the  things  which  renders  continuous  co-operation  of 
the  cities  of  a municipal  league  effective  is  a regular  publica- 
tion. Our  mia'gazine  goes  each  month  to  one  thousand  city 
officials  of  our  membership  cities.  In  this  way  we  publish  the 
proceedings  of  our  annual  meetings  and  articles  of  current 
municipal  interest,  city  improvement  news  notes,  and  answers 
to  inquiries.  The  furnishing  of  this  publication  to  our  cities 
has  been  of  especial  value. 

The  furtherance  of  legislation  of  benefit  to  the  municipali- 
ties, and  the  opposing  of  measures  detrimental  to  vhc  interests 
of  the  people  of  the  municipalities,  is  a fourth  feature  of  the 
work  of  a league  of  municipalities  which  may  be  of  the  greatest 
value. 

Among  bills  the  enactment  of  which  the  League  of  Kansas 
Municipalities  successfully  urged  at  the  Kansas  legislature  of 
1915  was  one  abolishing  the  fee  charge  for  the  registration  of 
municipal  bonds,  and  another  requiring  the  public  utilities  com- 
mission to  furnish  technical  service  to  the  cities  of  the  state, 
on  payment  of  the  cost  of  the  service. 

Among  measures  introduced  felt  to  be  injurious  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  people  of  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  state,  op- 
posed by  the  League — a'nd  there  were  a number  of  especially 
harmful  proposals  in  this  category — was  one  whicih  would  have 
deprived  the  cities  of  their  present  powers  to  establish  muni- 
cipally owned  public  utility  plants;  would  have  given  existing 
privia'tely  owned  public  utilities  a monoply  in  the  field,  and 
would  have  stripped  the  local  governments  of  their  powers 
to  regulate  local  utilities. 

This  bill  was  opposed  by  the  League  of  Kansas  Municipali- 
ties, and  w!a!s  defeated.  It  is  only  fair  in  this  connection  to 
acknowledge  here  the  splendid  work  done  in  exposing  and 
fighting  this  special  interest  measure,  by  the  Kansas  City  Star, 
and  by  Fred  C.  Trigg  and  Lacy  HPaynes  of  that  newspaper 
Credit  for  wide  publicity  in  connection  with  the  bill  is  also  due 
to  the  United  Press,  and  to  its  Topeka  correspondent,  C.  A. 
Sloan. 

Common  discussion  of  city  government  problems,  a clear- 


2b 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


ing  house  of  municipal  information,  oi  regular  publication  for 
the  city  officials,  and  co-operation  of  cities  on  questions  of 
municipal  legislation — these  are  services  of  leagues  of  muni- 
cpailities — services  which  render  such  organizations  invalu- 
able to  the  officials  and  people  of  the  cities  and  towns  of  our 
states. 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  OKLAHOMA  MUNICIPAL 
LEAGUE 


Article  I — Name. 

Section  1.  The  name  of  this  organization  shall  be  The  Okla- 
homa Municipal  League. 

Article  II. — Objects. 

Section  1.  The  object  of  this  organization  shall  be  the  gen- 
eral improvement  and  facilitation  of  every  branch  of  municipal 
administration  by  the  following  means:  first,  the  perpetuation 
of  the  organization  as  an  agency  for  the  co-operation  of  Okla- 
homa cities  and  towns  in  the  practical  study  of  all  questions 
pertaining  to  municipal  administration;  second,  the  holding  of 
annual  conventions  for  the  discussion  of  municipal  affairs;  third, 
the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  a central  bureau  of  infor- 
mation for  the  collection,  compilation  and  dissemination  of  sta- 
tistics, reports  and  all  kinds  of  information  relative  to  municipal 
government. 

Article  III. — Membership  and  Dues. 

Section  1.  Any  city  or  town  in  the  State  of  Oklahoma  may 
become  a member  of  this  organization. 

Section  2.  The  dues  for  each  city  or  town  shall  be  as  fol- 


lows : 

Less  than  1.000  population $5.00 

1.000  to  5,000  population 10.00 

5.000  to  10,000  population 15.00 

10.000  to  20,000  population 20.00 

20.000  to  50,000  population 30.00 

Over  50,000  population  40.00 


There  shall  be  two  grades  of  members: 

First:  Active  (institutional)  members,  shall  include  all  those 
cities  and  towns  which  have  paid  their  annual  dues,  represented 
by  those  holding  office  for  the  time  being  in  such  cities  and 
towns  and  these  officers  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  on  all  ques- 
tions. 

Second:  Honorary  (individual)  members,  shall  include  all 
ex-officials  of  cities  and  towns  which  keep  up  their  membership 
in  this  League.  Also  any  person  who  is  an  editor  of  a municipal 


28 


University  of  Oklahoma 

journal  or  magazine  or.  who  is  engaged  in  research  work  and  in- 
vestigation of  municipal  questions:  All  honorary  members,  ex- 
cept those  who  have  previously  been  members  of  the  organiza- 
tion by  virtue  of  their  office,  shall  be  chosen  by  the  active  mem- 
bers, in  convention  assembled,  or  designated  by  the  secretary, 
provided  that  all  honorary  memberships  granted  by  the  secre- 
tary must  be  approved  by  the  active  members  in  the  next  as- 
sembled convention.  Honorary  members  shall  not  have  the 
power  to  vote;  but  they  shall  be  granted  the  floor  for  the  right 
of  discussion  on  lany  question.  Honorary  members  shall  not  be 
required  to  pay  a membership  fee. 

Article  IV. — Meetings. 

Section  1.  The  annual  meeting  of  this  organization  shall  be 
held  at  such  place  as  the  annual  convention  may  determine,  and 
at  such  time  as  the  executive  committee  may  desire. 

Section  2.  Each  and  every  city  or  town  holding  membership 
shall  be  entitled  to  send  as  miany  of  its  officers  as  it  may  desire 
as  delegates  to  the  annual  meeting. 

Section  3.  On  the  questions  of  electing  officers  and  selecting 
place  of  Jannual  meetings,  each  and  every  city  and  town  that 
holds  membership  in  the  organization  shall  be  entitled  to  one 
vote,  which  shall  be  the  majority  expression  of  the  city  or  town 
delegation;  on  all  other  questions  the  vote  of  the  majority  of 
delegates  present  shall  control.  All  delegates  shall  be  entitled 
to  participate  in  the  discussions  and  debates  of  the  meetings. 

Article  V- — Officers. 

Section  1.  The  officers  of  this  organization  shall  be  presi- 
dent, vice-president,  secreta'ry-treasurer,  and  three  trustees, 
each  of  whom  shall  be  an  officer  of  his  city  at  the  time  of  his 
election  except  the  secretaryTreasurer.  No  two  officers  shall 
be  elected  from  the  same  city.  No  person  shall  be  elcted  to  an 
office  who  shall  not  have  been  present  at  the  convention.  The 
term  of  office  shall  be  one  year;  provided  that  at  the  first  elec- 
tion under  this  section  the  trustees  shall  be  elected  for  one,  two, 
and  three  years,  respectively,  and  at  each  election  thereafter 
there  shall  be  one  trustee  elected  for  a term  of  three  years.  The 
president,  vice-president,  and  the  trustees  shall  constitute  the 
executive  committee. 

Section  2.  There  shall  be  appointed  an  honorary  vice-presi- 
dent from  each  county  represented,  land  such  standing  commit- 
tees as  the  president  or  convention  shall  deem  necessary. 


University  of  Oklahoma 


29 


Section  3.  All  vacancies  in  offices,  except  that  of  secretary- 
treasurer,  shall  be  filled  by  the  next  convention.  If  a vacancy 
occurs  in  the  office  of  secretary-treasurer  the  same  shall  be  fill- 
ed by  the  president,  or  the  person  fulfilling  the  duties  of  that 
office. 

Article  VI. — Duties. 

Section  1.  The  president  shall  preside  at  all  meetings  of  the 
organization,  shall  have  the  appointment  of  all  committees,  and 
shall  perform  such  other  duties  as  a!re  incumbent  upon  the  of- 
fice. In  the  absence  of  the  president,  the  vice-president  shall 
assume  and  perform  the  duties  of  the  office. 

Section  2.  The  secretary-treasurer  shall  keep  accurate  min- 
utes of  the  proceedings  of  the  organization;  have  charge  of  the 
bureau  of  information;  conduct  all  correspondence;  issue  notices 
of  all  meetings  of  the  organization;  receive  all  money  from  the 
members  of  the  organization  for  dues  and  from  any  other 
source,  giving  his  receipt  therefor;  piay  all  bills  authorized  by 
the  convention  or  executive  committee  and  approved  by  the 
president;  keep  an  account  of  all  funds  of  the  organization  and 
submit  to  it  at  each  annual  meeting  a report  of  all  receipts  and 
disbursements  during  the  preceding  year.  He  shall  give  such 
bond  as  the  executive  committee  may  determine  the  cost  at- 
tached thereto  being  paid  by  the  organization.  He  shall  receive 
such  compensation  as  the  executive  committee  shall  determine. 

Section  3.  The  executive  committee  shall  meet  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  first  day  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  organization, 
and  ais  often  as  the  president  may  direct,  and  consider  and  re- 
port all  matters  referred  to  it  by  the  organization. 

Article  VII. — Bureau  of  Information. 

Section  1.  The  organization  shall  establish  and  maintain 
under  the  care  of  the  secretary  a bureau  of  information  for  the 
purposes  set  forth  in  section  1 of  Article  II  of  this  Constitution. 

Section  2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  each  and  every  member  to 
take  such  action  as  it  may  deem  proper,  through  its  mayor  and 
council,  or  board  of  trustees,  or  commission,  to  have  the  heads 
of  the  various  departments  send  copies  of  all  published  public 
reports  to  the  bureau  of  information  and  to  have  such  officials 
extend  all  courtesies  to  said  bureau  in  the  way  of  furnishing 
special  information  las  requested. 

Section  3.  It  shall  be  the  privilege  of  each  and  every  mem- 
ber, through  its  mayor,  or  other  officers,  to  request  any  special 


j?o  The  University  of  Oklahoma 

information  relative  to  municipal  work  from  the  bureau  of  in- 
formation. 

Section  4.  It  shlatl  be  the  duty  of  the  bureau  of  information 
to  comply  with  all  reasonable  requests  made  by  members  for 
information,  and  to  publish  all  generally  interesting  information 
gatihered  and  compiled  by  it.  The  bureau  shall  also  send  such 
information  to  cities  and  towns  in  this  state  not  members  of  the 
organization  and  to  ther  like  organizations,  when,  in  its  judg- 
ment it  is  advisable  to  do  so  in  order  that  the  membership  of 
the  organization  may  be  increased  or  valuable  information  be 
thereby  secured,  or  the  .general  welfare  of  municipal  govern- 
ment be  benefited. 

Article  VIII.— Order  of  Business. 

Section  1.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  organization  the 
order  of  business  shall  be  as  follows: 

1.  Roll  call. 

2.  Reading  of  minutes  of  last  meeting. 

3.  President’s  address. 

4.  Report  of  Secretary-Treasurer. 

5.  Report  of  executive  committee. 

6.  Report  of  other  committees. 

7.  Addresses,  papers  and  discussions. 

8.  Election  of  officers. 

9.  Election  of  next  meeting  place. 

10.  New  business. 

11.  Miscellaneous. 

Article  IX. — Amendments. 

Section  1.  The  foregoing  Constitution  may  be  amended  at 
any  annual  meeting  by  a two-thirds  vote  of  the  members  pres- 
ent, provided,  such  proposed  amendment  shall  have  been  sub- 
mitted in  writing  not  later  than  the  first  day  of  the  annua1 
meeting. 


University  of  Oklahoma  31 

MAYORS  OF  CITIES  OF  OKLAHOMA. 

City  Mayor 

Ada E.  S.  Ratliff 

Altus  S.  E.  Hickman 

Anadarko W.  H.  Castle 

Antlers  J.  M.  Cornelius 

Alva - J.  A.  Renfrew 

Ardmore  Val  Mullen 

Atoka I.  L.  Cook 

Bartlesville C.  A.  Lamm 

Blackwell  - H.  R.  West 

Boley  I.  W.  Young- 

Chandler  Thos.  S.  Harris 

Cherokee  A.  J.  Titus 

Chickasha  O.  Coffman 

Claremore  J.  Ryan 

Cleveland H.  E.  Burns 

Clinton C.  E.  Gannaway 

Collinsville  : H.  L.  Hille 

Cordell R.  L.  Harvey 

Cushing  Jno.  E.  Ryberg 

Depew  Fred  L.  Patrick 

Dewey B.  A.  Lewis 

Drumright ^ J.  B.  Pickens 

Duncan  R.  W.  Cline 

Durant  _Jas.  Yarborough 

Elk  City A.  L.  Thurmond 

El  Reno P.  P.  Duffy 

Enid  John  R.  Clover 

Eufaula  W.  C.  Metcalfe 

Frederick  Z.  Z.  Rogers 

Grandfield  R.  L.  Winchell 

Guthrie J.  E.  Nissley 

Guy  man H.  E.  James 

Haileyville  J.  J.  Turlington 

Hartshorn  Geo.  W.  Walshe 

Hennessey M.  M.  Mitchell 

Henryetta Clin  W.  M each  am 

Hobart  J.  J.  Hunter 

Holdenville  F.  P.  Rutherford 

Hugo  Oscar  W.  Hanna 

Idabel  J.  N.  Morgan 


32 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


City 

Kingfisher 

Kiowa 

Lawton  

Lehigh 

McAlester 

Mangum 

Miairietta 

Marlow 

Medford  

Miami  

Muskogee  

Norman 

Oklahoma  City 

Okmulgee  

Pawhuska  

Pawnee 

Perry  

Pond  Creek 

Pryor 

Purcell  

Ringling 

Sallisaw 

Sapulpa  

Sayre  

Shawnee 

Stillwater 

Thomas 

Tishomingo 

Tonkawa  

Tulsa , 

Vinita  

Wagoner  

Walters  

Watonga  

Waynoka 

Weatherford 

Weleetka 

Wewoka 

Woodward 

Wynnewood 

Yukon  


Mayor 

__E.  A.  Pemberton 
..-Walter  A.  Evans 

Henry  Boyle 

Fred  Westerman 

J.  I.  Wood 

— G.  F.  Border 

J.  C.  Graham 

Geo.  T.  Putty 

F.  W.  Loder 

W.  S.  Harned 

J.  E.  Wyand 

L.  C.  Lindsay 

Ed  Overholser 

M.  F.  Moroney 

_Jas.  A.  Weiselogel 

A.  B.  Mallory 

Fred  Kretsch 

T.  J.  Gentry 

W.  A.  Graham 

G.  W.  Blanchard 

F.  L.  Ketch 

C.  B.  Johnson 

L.  J.  Smith 

E.  F.  Cornels 

F.  P.  Stearns 

J.  H.  Robison 

W.  J.  Omer 

J.  E.  Looney 

W.  R.  Crawford 

J.  H.  Simmons 

T.  M.  Buffington 

V.  Lamb 

W.  H.  Dyer 

Theo.  Grashnan 

W.  R.  Barrick 

Fred  E.  Sims 

G.  W.  Hilderbraudt 

S.  W.  Lane 

P.  Martinson 

E.  L.  Keys 

L.  N.  T.  Harris 


THE  ADDRESS  OF  HON.  ROBERT  L.  WILLIAMS 
GOVERNOR  OF  OKLAHOMA 

Just  a moment  ago  I was  thinking  of  the  difference  between 
a modern  and  an  ancient  city  in  the  relation  of  each  to  hu- 
manity. In  the  olden  times  cities  of  refuge  existed.  A person 
who  had  committed  manslaughter,  if  able  to  get  within  the 
walls  of  such  a city,  was  safe  from  his  pursuers.  Savage  force 
then  characterized  the  activities  of  men,  and  walled  cities  were 
built  in  certain  sections  to  which  they  might  flee  for  safety. 
Can  it  be  said  to-day  in  any  sense  that  a modern  city  is  a safe 
place  of  refuge  for  the  children  of  men?  This  suggests  the 
municipal  problems  of  the  present  day. 

You  frequently  hear  the  business  man  in  cities  declare  that 
every  man  should  have  a home.  That  is  essential  to  the  real 
development  of  our  country  and  its  citizenship.  At  the  same 
time,  this  representative  of  commercial  development  will  ad- 
vocate that  even  a homestead  should  be  subject  to  the  in- 
cumbrance of  a mortgage  or  other  lien  in  order  that  there  may 
be  commercial  progress  and  development.  To  some  these  may 
appear  to  be  contradictory  positions.  It  serves,  however,  to 
illustrate  the  fact  that  matters  appear  different  when  seen  from 
different  viewpoints.  The  representative  of  commercial  devel- 
opment in  the  city,  in  order  that  a city  may  grow  and  prosper 
in  a business  way  and  be  supported  by  a strong  rural  population, 
announces  the  proposition  that  every  man  shoud  own  a home. 
It  would  be  beautiful  and  idealistic  if  such  could  be  made  a 
reality;  but  if  that  home  or  homestead  could  not  be  incumbered, 
then  it  would  not  have  commercial  value  as  an  asset  for  credit, 
and  then  the  representative  of  commercial  development  would 
say  that  that  was  unwise  because  it  would  hold  back  the  hands 
of  progress.  Yet  if  the  owner  of  a homestead  is  to  be  permitted 
to  incumber  it,  an  opportunity  is  afforded  for  him  to  become 
homeless.  This  suggests  the  fact  that  if  we  are  to  evolve  a 
plan  of  idealism,  every  man  and  every  interest  has  to  be  a real 
participant  in  order  to  bring  it  about.  Another  thought  is  sug- 
gested, and  that  is  that  true  idealism  means  the  destruction  of 
individualism  and  the  inevitable  return  to  the  condition  of 
barbarism.  These  preliminaries  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  we 
cannot  expect  in  civil  government  or  commercial  or  social  life 
a state  of  idealism.  With  our  imperfections  we  are  to  evolve 


34 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


the  best  system  of  civil  government  and  social  life  within  the 
limitations  of  human  thought  and  capacity. 

The  Oklahoma  Municipal  League  represents  the  local  or- 
ganizations of  civil  government  for  municipal  purposes.  A 
proper  view  point  for  the  representative  of  commercial  life  is 
essential.  The  public  official  must  have  such  a view  point  to 
reach  correct  conclusions.  An  official  is  entitled  to  receive 
compensation,  but  in  order  for  us  to  have  the  kind  of  govern- 
ment the  people  need,  the  Idea  of  service  must  be  the  controll- 
ing factor;  and  the  compensation,  after  it  reaches  an  amount  to 
offer  him  a reasonable  subsistance,  should  be  incidental. 

Advocates  City  Manager  Plan. 

In  municipal  government  it  is  essential  that  we  determine 
the  form  which  is  necessary  to  give  the  people  efficiency.  From 
my  experience  and  observation  I believe  in  the  special  charter 
form  with  a legislative  body  elected  from  the  city  at  large  and 
to  serve  without  pay,  this  body  to  employ  a manager.  Limit 
these  legislators  so  they  cannot  give  employment  to  any  of 
their  relatives,  either  by  blood  or  affinity;  and  so  that  none 
of  the  enterprises  or  business  concerns  in  which  they  are  inter- 
ested, either  directly  or  indirectly,  may  be  interested  in  any 
municipal  contracts.  Thus  you  will  bring  to  the  support  of  mu- 
nicipal government  brains  and  energy  controlled  by  patriotic 
desires,  and  not  with  a dominant  purpose  of  personal  gain. 

Non-Partisan  Elections. 

Municipal  government  is  the  arm  of  the  state  in  a local  way. 
In  this  day  when  human  needs  are  so  many  and  the  complex 
conditions  of  society  demand  so  much  of  municipalities,  it 
calls  for  the  best  thought  and  effort  of  the  patriot.  Political 
parties  should  not  be  permitted  as  such  to  participate  in  the 
selection  of  municipal  legislators,  the  municipal  manager,  and 
other  municipal  employees.  Party  emblems  and  party  nomina- 
tions should  be  prohibited,  and  the  electors  of  the  municipality 
should  be  permitted  to  select  these  municipal  legislators  with- 
out any  pre-existing  bias  or  prejudice  on  account  of  party  affilia- 
tions, but  solely  from  the  standpoint  of  the  patriotic,  honest 
and  efficient  citizen. 

This  plan  will  conduce  to  give  party  organization  high  ideals. 
What  has  the  efficient  and  honest  conduct  of  a municipal  gov- 
ernment to  do  with  the  principles  illustrated  by  Thos.  Jefferson 
or  Alexander  Hamilton?  Mr.  Jefferson  believed  in  the  rule  of 


University  of  Oklahoma 


35 


the  people.  When  the  people  elect  municipal  legislators  they 
elect  the  municipal  manager  and  the  other  employes.  The 
people  act  through  their  representatives,  under  this  plan  01 
municipal  government  just  as  they  did  in  Mr.  Jefferson’s  time 
and  according  to  Mr.  Jefferson’s  teachings.  This  plan  preserves 
local  self-government  just  as  he  advocated.  When  you  devise 
a plan  so  as  to  bring  about  an  efficient  and  honest  municipal 
administration  of  municipal  affairs,  though  it  be  done  without 
party  agency,  that  will  not  tend  to  destroy  party  organizations 
as  to  state  and  national  matters.  To  say  that  Alexander  Ham- 
ilton and  Thomas  Jefferson,  through  the  represpective  political 
parties  caused  to  be  organized  by  their  teachings,  have  got  to 
stand  for  every  petty  municipal  grafter,  would  be  placing  too 
much  of  a burden  upon  their  names  and  upon  the  parties  rep- 
resenting the  principles  they  taught.  What  has  a municipality 
to  do  with  politics?  Should  it  have  anything  to  do  with  poli- 
tics? Municpalities  look  after  the  sick  and  the  poor  and  the 
charges  on  society;  cause  streets,  boulevards  and  avenues  to  be 
built  and  paved,  not  only  to  facilitate  travel,  but,  also,  to  add 
to  civic  beauty;  acquire  parks  and  beautify  them  so  that  they 
may  afford  pleasure  to  the  citizens  of  such  municipality.  In 
addition,  they  look  after  human  safety  and  life  and  the  pro- 
tection of  property.  Firemen’s  organizations,  police  forces, 
hospital  corps,  and  everything  that  has  to  do  with  civic  uplift 
and  civic  beauty  and  health  and  pleasure  and  life  are  to  be  con- 
served in  a sense  by  a municipal  government.  This  can  be  best 
done  by  arranging  matters  so  that  all  the  sheep  of  every 
species  can  more  readily  be  gotten  on  one  side  and  all  the 
goats  of  every  species  on  the  other.  In  other  words,  all  the 
people  who  want  honest  and  effcient  government  may  have 
the  opportunity  to  line  up  without  party  impediments,  with  a 
view  of  selecting  the  best  and  most  honest  and  efficient  officials. 

I hope  to  see  the  day  when  every  city  of  the  first  class  in 
this  state  will  be  under  a special  charter  government  of  the 
character  just  indicated  by  me. 

Urges  Adoption  of  Charters  and  Endorses  Oklahoma 
Municipal  League. 

As  representatives  of  the  municipalities,  I thank  you  for  the 
courtesy  and  honor  you  have  done  me  in  inviting  me  to  address 
your  body  to-day.  May  God  speed  you  in  your  undertaking 
for  municipal  uplift.  As  Governor  of  the  State  you  shall  have 
my  hearty  co-operation  in  every  such  enterprise. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  LEGISLATION 
MAYOR  P.  P.  DUFFY,  ElReno,  Chairman. 

Mir.  President,  and  members  of  the  Oklahoma  Municipal 
League:  I am  not  like  my  friend  Mr.  Overholser  in  respect  to 
making  a speech,  but  I have  a few  notes  of  some  of  the  things 
that  were  done,  and  some  that  were  not  done.  I am  in  the 
class  of  those  who  get  up  and  say  they  cannot  make  a speech. 

I will  do  as  a certain  man  in  a campaign  did,  by  telling  a 
story  of  a native  of  Arkansas.  When  asked  where  Arkansas 
was  located,  he  said  it  was  bounded  on  the  north  by  Missouri, 
cn  the  east  by  Tennessee  and  Mississippi,  on  the  south  by 
Louisiana  and  Texas,  and  on  the  west  by  Texas  and  Oklahoma; 
in  fact,  he  said,  the  whole  world  lies  about  Arkansas. 

A friend  had  taken  an  accident  insurance  policy,  and  he 
wanted  to  realize  upon  it  and  the  insurance  company  doctor 
went  to  see  him  and  pronounced  it  a case  of  lumbago, — a visi- 
tation of  God.  The  man  sued,  and  the  Arkansas  Court  held  that 
“while  he  had  not  been  injured,  he  should  be  entitled  to 
recover,  for  a visitation  of  God  in  Arkansas  was  certainly  an 
accident.” 

When  I was  an  attache  of  the  Senate  during  the  first  four 
sessions  of  the  State  Legislature,  I noticed  that  the  farmers’ 
union,  and  the  mine  workers,  and  manufacturing  associations 
and  all  classes  of  people  came  before  the  legislative  bodies  for 
legislation,  but  I never  saw  any  one  of  them  come  from  any 
town  asking  for  any  legislation  affecting  the  town  or  city. 

We  organized  a municipal  league  at  Muskogee  four  years 
ago,  and  met  the  next  year  at  Tulsa.  Then  it  “blew  up”,  and 
we  organized  this  one  two  years  ago,  and  I am  glad  to  see  it 
growing  every  day,  and  to  see  the  interest  taken,  especially  in 
legislative  matters.  All  other  divisions  of  this  state  have  re- 
ceived recognition  but  the  city.  I look  upon  the  city,  and  upon 
the  government  as  a whole.  I believe  that  there  are  only  three 
central  governments  in  the  United  States:  the  President  and 
the  officers  of  the  Cabinet;  the  State  and  its  officers,  and  the 
towns  and  cities.  The  interest  taken  by  this  League  is  going 
to  make  the  Legislature  sit  up  and  take  notice.  Some  of  the 
biggest  men  obtainable  have  been  before  us. 

A year  ago  I was  appointed  on  a committee  on  legislation. 
At  that  time  I will  confess,  I was  in  the  throes  of  a battle  at 


University  of  Oklahoma 


37 


El  Reno,  where  a few  undesirable  citizens  were  trying  to  de- 
feat me  for  office.  I met  with  Mr.  Hardcastle,  Mlayor  Lamm 
of  Bartlesville  and  City  Attorney  Ramsey  of  Tulsa  and  many 
others,  and  our  Secretary.  And  while  we  failed  on  our  ‘pet’ 
measure,  that  of  taking  away  the  power  of  the  County  Ex- 
cise Board  to  reduce  the  budget  of  a city,  yet  we  had  some  very 
good  bills  passed,  and  gained  some  recognition  of  our  League. 
We  mayors  know  more  about  the  needs  of  our  cities  than  the 
members  of  the  Excise  Board  can  ever  know,  yet  we  have  to 
sit  there  and  see  the_  slashing  of  the  budget  by  the 
members  of  the  Excise  Board,  to  promote  their  own  advantages. 

We  had  a bill  prepared  doing  away  with  the  Excise  Board  as 
a.  power  to  cut  down  our  budgets.  Then  someone  sent  in  a 
bill  that  provided  that  the  Excise  Board  should  be  the  County 
Commissioners,  and  the  first  thing  I knew  it  was  in  force. 
That  is  just  jumping  from  the  frying  pan  to  the  fire.  Gener- 
ally the  three  county  commissioners,  are  all  farmers,  and  know 
almost  as  much  about  municipal  affairs  as  the  Excise  Board 
does.  I would  like  to  see  the  next  legislature,  if  it  is  a special 
session.  I would  like  to  have  our  Governor  recommend  the 
doing  away  with  this  Excise  Board,  or  any  board  of  that  sort. 

I have  here  some  of  the  laws  passed  at  the  last  session, 
which  relate  to  municipal  affairs.  Mr.  Bauman  of  the  Senate, 
from  Waurika,  showed  our  committee  every  courtesy,  as  did 
also  Mr.  Tom  Waldrep,  of  Shawnee. 

A bill  regulating  pool  halls  was  passed.  In  a good  many 
cities,  pool  halls  get  to  be  a common  “hang-out  place”  for  boys 
playing  hookey  from  school,  and  the  first  thing  someone  has  a 
half  pint  and  they  go  back  and  take  a drink.  This  la  v provides 
that  the  license  of  the  owner  of  a pool  hall  may  be  revoked 
where  an  owner  permits  intoxicating  liquors  to  be  sold,  where 
the  manager  is  a habitual  drunkard,  where  minors  are  allowed 
to  frequent  the  hall,  when  a federal  liquor  license  has  not  been 
secured,  or  where  there  has  ben  a violation  of  the  gambling  law. 

A law  authorizing  cities  to  acquire  more  land  for  park  and 
cemetery  purposes,  was  passed. 

The  main  law  was  the  one  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Hardcastle,  reg- 
ulating appeal  from  municipal  courts.  Under  the  present  law 
the  cases  must  come  to  trial  in  a reasonable  length  of  time,  and 
the  costs  in  the  municipal  courts  may  be  assessed  against  them 
in  the  higher  court. 

There  was  another  law,  due  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Ramsey, 


38 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


authorizing  a fund  of  one-half  mill  for  upkeep  for  sanitary  pur- 
poses: an  act  providing  for  a board  of  sanitation  for  plumbers 
in  cities.  If  there  is  any  class  of  work  done  that  is  slighted,  it 
is  plumbing.  Plumbers  can  bury  their  mistakes  and  get  away 
with  it. 

There  was  one  law  not  particularly  pertaining  to  cities,  but 
one  that  our  city  was  interested  in,  that  introduced  by  Rep- 
resentative Nesbit  authorizing  the  holding  of  free  county 
fairs,  and  the  levying  of  taxes  for  that  purpose.  It  lessens  our 
burden  in  El  Reno  about  $2,800.00  by  holding  a free  fair  in  the 
county. 

Another  law  passed  was  in  regard  to  the  sale  of  cigarettes. 
Every  store  is  now  stocked  with  them,  and  especially  is  it  a 
temptation  to  the  younger  generation  to  get  hold  of  them.  It 
seems  to  me  that  there  are  more  boys  smoking  them  now  that 
I have  ever  seen  before.  We  can’t  license  a cigarette  vendor. 
It  makes  it  a penalty,  of  course,  to  sell  them  to  minors,  but 
when  they  have  the  right  to  have  them  in  their  show  cases, 
some  of  them  are  going  to  sell  them  to  minors. 

A law  was  also  passed  providing  for  a road  tax  in  towns  of 
more  than  two  thousand  population. 

There  was  an  act  authorizing  the  legislature  to  extend  the 
time  of  payment  of  bonds  and  paying  assessments,  etc.  That 
hasn’t  affected  our  city  as  yet.  I heard  of  some  that  needed 
that  relief. 

We  are  now  trying  out  the  new  sidewalk  law.  Under  the 
old  law,  when  you  laid  a sidewalk,  the  rich  man  could  always 
pay  for  it,  and  the  poor  man  possibly  could  not,  and  drew  a 
25  per  cent  penalty.  It  was  a burden  in  many  cases.  This  law 
provides  that  the  owner  has  thirty  days’  notice,  and  if  he  is 
not  able  to  put  it  in  and  the  city  has  the  contract,  it  is  divided 
into  three  annual  payments,  at  interest  not  to  exceed  8 per  cent. 
We  are  getting  up  an  ordinance  now  in  my  town,  under  this 
law. 

Those  are  about  all  the  most  important  laws  passed.  I 
believe  this  legislation  has  done  us  a lot  of  good.  We  lost  a few 
of  our  bills,  but  we  can’t  get  all  of  them  at  once.  We  want  to 
have  a law  by  which  a city  governed  by  a charter,  is  allowed 
to  make  its  own  tax  levy,  and  place  its  own  limit  within  the 
constitutional  limit.  You  know  the  lower  the  valuation  the 
higher  the  mill  levy.  The  valuations  of  all  our  cities  have  been 
lowered  during  these  hard  times,  hence  a higher  mill  levy.  A 


University  of  Oklahoma 


39 


-six  mill  levy  this  year  would  not  be  much  more  than  a four  mill 
levy  four  years  ago.  We  have  certain  needs  to  keep  up.  The 
people  want  service,  but  we  can’t  get  the  money  to  give  it  to 
them.  This  is  just  one  example  of  the  laws  which  we  need, 
and  we  believe  that  with  this  Municipal  League  back  of  us  we 
shall  be  able  to  secure  measures  which  will  benefit  every  city  in 
Oklahoma. 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSION  ON  LEGISLATION 
Mr.  DUFFY,  Chairman. 

Question:  You  referred  to  several  bills  providing  for  a 

special  levy,  as  an  illustration,  for  cemetery  purposes.  Could 
that  be  added  to  the  six  mills? 

Answer:  Yes,  sir.  In  addition  to  the  general  levy. 

Question:  On  your  sidewalks  law.  The  law  provides  that 
a tax  warrant  issue  is  payable  one-third  each  year? 

Answer:  Yes,  sir. 

Question:  And  the  city  shall  not  be  liable  for  the  pay- 
ment? 

Answer:  Yes,  sir. 

Question:  Suppose  you  are  confronted  with  this  situation: 
that  the  property  is  not  sufficiently  inviting,  can  the  city  build 
that?  We  have  three  lots  in  litigation,  and  under  the  old  law 
we  required  of  property  owners  beyond  these  to  build,  and 
those  fellows  walk  through  the  mud.  Does  the  new  law  give 
any  relief? 

Answer:  I suppose  in  that  case  that  the  contractor  must 
accept  the  tax  warrants  in  full  payment,  and  hold  them  against 
the  lots. 

Question:  Now  what  are  you  going  to  do  if  your  contract 
forbids?  Can  the  city  go  ahead? 

Answer:  Yes,  sir,  they  can  go  ahead,  and  rebuild  or  put  in 
sidewalks. 

Question:  In  the  event  you  elect  to  act  under  the  govern- 
mental function,  and  build  it  yourself,  is  there  any  way  to  re- 
cover? 

Answer:  You  may  take  the  warrants  off  the  contractor’s 
'-hands,  and  if  they  are  ever  worth  anything,  you  get  that  much. 

Question:  Upon  the  question  of  the  municipal  court  pro- 


40 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


ceedure.  I want  to  congratulate  the  committee  on  having  that 
passed.  That  was  one  thing  we  needed  very  badly.  In  my 
town,  they  very  often  appeal  their  cases.  We  have  an  ordinance 
that  the  costs  may  be  taxed  upon  the  defendent  upon  convic- 
tion. Suppose  the  case  is  appealed  to  the  county  court,  can 
the  costs  in  the  municipal  court  be  taxed  in  the  county  court 
with  the  costs  there? 

Answer:  My  view  of  the  law  is  that  that  would  be  true.  It 
would  be  ridiculous  to  assume  that  the  costs  became  dead.  As 
to  whether  that  specific  provision  is  in  the  law  or  not,  I don’t 
know. 

Question:  Is  it  your  view  that  the  Excise  Board  has  the 
right  to  specify  the  exact  purpose  for  which  expenditures  shall 
be  made?  In  making  the  estimates  they  specify  so  much  for 
each  item.  Is  it  your  understanding  that  the  Excise  Board  has 
a right  to  go  over  each  of  these  items,  or  can  they  only  levy  in 
general? 

Answer:  It  separates  this  and  we  just  have  a general  fund. 
Of  course  when  we  make  our  budget,  we  estimate,  but  we 
write  warrants  for  general  fund.  Special  funds  are  those  for 
special  purposes. 

Question:  I took  the  matter  up  with  the  State  Examiner 
and  Inspector,  and  they  seemed  to  be  of  the  opinion  that  was 
the  proper  method:  to  have  a general  fund.  But  we  had  been 
running  and  had  had  certain  funds. 

Answer:  I understand  the  statute  would  require  the  city 
to  have  special  funds. 

Question:  That  has  been  repealed. 

Mr.  Ross:  You  could  issue  one  series  of  warrants  aaainst 
a general  fund.  The  statute  designated  separate  funds  as  being 
in  conflict  with  the  constitution.  The  constitution  provides 
that  what  is  levied  for  one  purpose  shall  never  be  used  for  an- 
other purpose.  I think  that  means  sinking  funds  cannot  be 
used  for  general  funds.  I don’t  believe  that  means  that  in  the 
case  of  every  one  of  the  items  listed,  you  have  to  follow  the 
items. 

The  law  was  repealed  in  regard  to  separate  funds.  They 
eliminated  all  reference  to  funds  for  city. 

Mr.  St.  Clair:  It  is  impracticable  to  say  that  the  Council  can 
anticipate  all  the  items.  For  instance,  the  workman’s  compen- 
sation act.  If  they  make  their  estimate  and  if  there  should 


University  of  Oklahoma  41 

-come  a liability,  the  law  says  that  must  be  paid.  What  is  the 
city  going  to  do? 

Answer:  I would  think  in  a case  of  that  kind,  they  would 
have  to  wait  until  the  next  ensuing  year  and  make  provision. 

Mr.  St.  Clair:  The  law  is  that  it  is  to  be  paid  promptly,  o>r 
else  they  are  penalized. 

Wouldn’t  that  go  into  a judgment? 

Answer:  That  was  the  way  I was  thinking.  It  would  ha\  e 
to  be  paid  in  the  shape  of  a judgment  until  next  year.  In  some 
of  the  cities  it  could  not  be  paid  in  any  other  way. 

Mr.  Hardcastle:  At  the  time  that  law  was  passed  which  says 
that  no  money  in  one  fund  shall  be  transferred,  the  state 
statutes  provided  certain  definite  fixed  funds,  mentioned  by  them 
in  detail:  sewer,  water,  etc.  That  law  was  passed  with  that 
other  statute  in  view,  and  it  was  supposed  to  hold  these  funds 
safe.  Then  along  came  a session  of  the  legislature  and  repealed 
some  of  these  laws  and  they  left  this  one  in,  and  there  is  no 
line  of  designated  funds  any  more.  There  are  only  three  funds: 
the  sinking  fund,  judgment  fund,  and  another  fund  which  you 
may  call  any  name,  generally  designated  as  general  fund.  Now 
this  sheet  that  the  State  Examiner  gets  up  and  sends  out,  which 
is  causing  most  of  the  trouble,  designated  an  itemization  of  var- 
ious funds  as  a guidance  to  Excise  Boards  so  that  they  can  see 
if  the  aggregate  amount  of  money  is  needed.  Suppose  this  city 
has  $500,000  in  its  general  fund.  We  will  say  that  is  divided  in- 
to a hundred  special  items  according  to  this  sheet  of  the  State 
Examiner,  of  from  $300  to  $70,000  or  $80,000  in  a fund.  Suppose 
there  is  $80,000  in  the  special  fund  for  policeman,  and  the  Po- 
lice Commissioner  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  they  don’t 
need  so  many  policemen,  and  $40,000  is  left  on  hand.  It  would 
be  perfectly  regular  to  pay  anything  new  arising,  out  of  that 
fund.  As  long  as  they  stay  inside  that  amount  it  could  be  used 
for  general  government  purposes.  However,  you  could  not 
take  anything  out  of  the  water  fund. 

Question:  What  about  the  constitutional  provision  that  no 
money  appropriated  for  one  purpose  shall  be  used  for  another? 

Answer:  It  is  appropriated  for  general  government 

funds.  It  is  not  appropriated  for  those  special  items  on  the 
sheet. 

Chairman:  We  have  Senator  Barrett  with  us.  I am  sure 
we  would  like  to  hear  from  him. 

Senator  Barrett:  I am  deeply  interested  in  the  work  done 


42 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


by  this  league.  I believe  it  is  one  of  the  most  useful  in  the 
state.  You  have  gotten  a great  deal  of  good  legislation  in  the 
last  session,  and  you  are  in  line  to  get  more  by  organized  effort. 
Legislative  bodies  are  amenable  to  the  wishes  of  the  intelli- 
gent people  of  the  state.  You  can  command  the  attention  of 
the  legislature  through  organized  effort  along  that  line.  I 
have  recognized  that  in  the  conduct  of  our  cities.  I believe  that 
a great  many  of  the  ideals  that  ought  to  govern,  must  come 
from  the  experience  of  the  people  who  conduct  the  govern- 
ment, and  united  action  of  the  kind  you  are  undertaking  here 
is  going  to  furnish  the  very  best  data  to  the  legislatures  who 
act  in  the  future.  The  Excise  Board  in  this  state  was  brought 
about  in  the  early  days  of  statehood  from  the  fact  that 
school  districts,  etc.,  having  been  under  territorial  laws,  it 
became  necessary  to  hold  down  local  boards  in  making  estimates,, 
because  they  paid  no  attention  to  changed  valuation,  going  be- 
yond the  needs  of  the  times.  It  took  drastic  action  to  stop 
them,  and  the  only  way  was  to  put  in  an  Excise  Board.  We 
have  now  become  familiar  with  these  things  and  it  ought  to  be 
done  away  with.  The  city  administration  that  is  taxed  with 
the  government  ought  to  be  the  one  to  make  the  estimates- 
They  have  the  experience.  I believe  that  when  the  League  will 
present  that  in  concrete  form  before  the  legislature,  you  will 
get  the  Excise  Board  removed,  because  it  does  not  belong  with 
our  system  of  government. 

I want  to  say  one  word  about  the  cigarette  law.  The  law 
was  made  to  take  care  of  the  boys.  Everybody  was  getting  cig- 
arettes under  the  old  law,  and  when  they  provided  that  the 
grown  men  could  go  on  legally  and  get  them,  but  drew  the  line 
at  the  boys,  the  legislature  took  the  position  that  there  was  a 
chance  to  do  some  good  wrork,  and  the  law  was  amended. 

I want  to  say  a word  in  regard  to  the  statement  of  your* 
chairman  in  regard  to  funds.  I think  that  applies  to  appropria- 
tions made  by  the  state  legislature  only,  and  not  the  ones  be- 
tween city  or  county  administration.  I believe  on  close  ex- 
amination that  it  has  reference  to  appropriations  by  the  state 
legislature. 

And  I want  to  say  in  conclusion,  I urge  you  to  continue 
and  build  up  your  organization.  Have  the  cities  bear  the  ex- 
pense of  sending  delegates.  The  municipality  is  the  most  vital 
to  the  people,  probably,  of  any  kind  of  government  in  the 
state. 


MUNICIPAL  ICE  PLANTS 


Hugh  J.  Cooper,  Commissioner  of  Public  Utilities, 
Weatherford,  Oklahoma. 

In  preparing  a paper  on  municipal  ice  plants,  I find  the  field 
for  securing  information  on  the  subject  very  limited,  and  to 
bring  this  fact  out  more  clearly,  I wish  to  read  the  “foreword” 
from  “A  Report  on  Municipal  and  Government  Ice  Plants,” 
compiled  by  Jeanie  Wells  Wentworth  for  the  president  of  the 
Borough  of  Manhattan,  City  of  New  York.  The  foreword  of 
this  report  reads  as  follows: 

New  York,  December  15th,  1913. 
Honorable  George  McAneny, 

President  of  The  Borough  of  Manhattan. 

Dear  Sir:— 

During  the  past  six  months,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  E.  P. 
Goodrich,  consulting  engineer,  diligent  search  has  been  made 
for  information  in  regard  to  municipally  owned  and  operated 
ice  plants  in  the  United  States  and  elsewhere.  In  the  course 
of  the  research  more  than  one  hundred  letters  were  written  to 
mayors  of  cities,  government  officials,  manufacturers,  editors 
and  private  individuals,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  The  respon- 
ses have  been  cordial  and  in  most  instances  the  information 
given  has  been  valuable  and  interesting.  There  is  evidenced  a 
widespread  and  growing  interest  in  this  question,  and  where- 
ever  the  experiment  has  been  undertaken  in  a business-like  way 
the  results  show  a substantial  profit  on  the  investment  where 
the  ice  is  sold,  or  a corresponding  reduction  in  cost  where  the 
ice  is  manufactured  for  government  use.  So  far  only  one  mu- 
nicipal ice  plant  in  actual  operation  has  been  discovered  in  the 
United  States.  This  is  in  Weatherford,  Okla.,  and  will  be  de- 
scribed below. 

The  United  States  government  owns  and  operates  several 
ice  plants  in  the  federal  buildings  in  Washington  and  large 
profitable  ones  at  both  Panama  and  the  Philippines,  and  is 
about  to  install  a new  one  at  the  naval  station  at  Pearl  Harbor, 
Hawaii.  Several  municipalities  in  England  and  Germany  and 
a large  number  in  northern  Italy  own  and  operate  ice  plants 


44 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


which  yield  a handsome  profit  to  their  respective  treasuries. 

About  seven  years  ago  a general  agitation  started  through- 
out the  United  States  because  of  the  “extortionate  prices”  of 
the  ice  dealers,  and  many  cities  made  plans  to  manufacture  and 
sell  ice,  but  the  ice  dealers  and  their  friends  always  appeared 
on  the  scene  with  an  injunction,  and  the  courts  generally  held 
that  the  cities  were  not  empowered  to  engage  in  the  ice  busi- 
ness, so  most  of  the  plans  fell  through  or  were  laid  over  to  a 
more  convenient  season.  Since  then  the  price  of  ice  has  been 
soaring,  but  the  “home  rule”  idea  has  at  the  same  time  been 
growing,  and  now  the  demand  for  “municipal  ice”  is  again 
active — this  time  with  a prospect  of  success. 

There  are  more  than  a dozen  of  our  states  that  either  have 
“home  rule”  for  all  cities,  which  would  enable  them  to  own  and 
operate  ice  plants,  or  have  passed  enabling  acts  in  regard  to 
specific  cities.  Of  these,  the  states  most  actively  interested 
in  the  ice  question  at  present  include  Oregon,  Michigan,  Okla- 
homa, Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Missouri,  Minnesota,  Cali- 
fornia, Ohio,  Maine,  Wisconsin,  Louisiana,  Kansas,  Illinois  and 
New  York. 

Respectfully  submitted, 
JEANIE  WELLS  WENTWORTH. 

The  Weatherford  Plant. 

While  a large  number  of  cities  in  the  United  States,  such  as 
New  York,  Chicago,  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul,  Milwaukee,  Sacra- 
mento, Cal.,  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  a great  many  smaller  cities 
are  agitating  the  question  of  municipal  ice  plants,  it  seems  that 
our  plant  ai  Weatherford  is  ihe  oniy  municipal  ico  plant  which 
has  been  operated  a full  season  at  this  time,  and  it  seems  to 
me  a brief  history  of  this  plant  would  not  be  out  of  place 

Our  people  had  voted  a bond  issue  of  $10,000  for  the  pur- 
pose of  building  a city  hall.  Our  city  council  had  been  fighting 
more  than  two  years  over  the  location  of  the  city  hall,  the 
council  being  divided  between  two  sites.  The  fight  was  finally 
carried  to  the  courts.  While  this  fight  was  in  progress,  the 
city  adopted  a charter  form  of  government  and  elected  the 
three  commissioners  provided  for  in  the  charter. 

The  business  of  our  city  is  not  of  sufficient  volume  to  re- 
quire a special  building  to  house  its  officials.  Our  Commission- 
ers decided  that  the  city’s  interests  could  be  better  conserved 
if  each  commissioner  handled  the  city’s  business  in  his  private 


University  of  Oklahoma  45 

office  right  along  with  his  private  business,  and  under  these 
conditions  we  had  little  or  no  use  for  a city  hall. 

In  looking  around  for  some  way  to  use  our  $10,000,  whereby 
we  could  derive  either  an  income  or  other  benefit  from  it,  in- 
stead of  the  additional  expense  of  maintaining  a city  hall,  we 
found  an  advertisement  in  one  of  the  trade  journals  by  the 
Carbondale  Machine  company,  wherein  they  advocated  the 
making  of  ice  as  a by-product  of  an  electric  or  other  steam 
plant.  A little  investigation  on  our  part  convinced  us  that  by 
utilizing  our  exhaust,  or  waste  steam,  we  could  make  ten  tonj» 
of  ice  per  day,  a sufficien  quantity  for  our  needs,  practically  as 
a by-product  of  our  electric  light  and  water  plant.  We  were 
pumping  a certair  amount  of  water  into  the  city  mains  every 
day,  and  vvc  were  told  if  we  put  this  water  over  ammonia  con- 
densers before  it  went  into  the  mains,  it  would  be  sufficient  for 
cooling  purposes  for  the  ice  plant,  and  it  would  not  injure  the 
water.  That  by  condensing  our  exhaust  or  waste  steam  with 
cur  boiler  feed  water,  we  could  get  distilled  water  for  the  ice 
plant  and  preheated  water  for  our  boilers  without  any  expense 
at  all.  That  we  already  had  the  engineers  and  all  of  the  high- 
priced  help  necessary  to  operate  the  ice  plant,  the  only  addi- 
tional labor  required  being  three  boys  to  pull  ice,  at  salaries 
of  twenty-five  dollars  per  month  each.  The  proposition  as  a 
whole  looked  too  good  to  be  true,  but  after  three  years  of 
operation  we  find  it  has  worked  out  exactly  as  it  figured  out  in 
the  first  place. 

For  the  average  small  town  or  city  to  operate  water,  elec- 
tric and  ice  plants  separately  is  an  economic  mistake.  They 
belong  together.  Small  ice  plants  in  Oklahoma  can  go  before 
the  Corporation  Commission  and  have  a price  of  sixty  to  sev- 
enty-five cents  per  hundred  sustained,  because  they  are  able  to 
show  that  they  are  not  making  interest  on  their  investment, 
after  figuring  all  of  the  annual  overhead  charges,  while  an 
electric  light  plant  making  ice  as  a by-product  would  be  able 
to  make  a big  profit  selling  ice  at  40  cents  in  the  same  town. 
It  is  my  opinion  that  the  smaller  cities  at  least,  which  operate 
some  of  their  utilities  which  require  a steam  plant,  should  by  all 
means  make  ice  as  a by-product. 

We  found  the  United  States  government  had  been  operat- 
ing an  ice  plant  at  Manila  successfully  for  more  than  ten  years 
and  had  been  installing  others  continually  since  that  time.  We 
found  that  municipal  ice  plants  were  being  successfully  oper- 


46 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


ated  in  England,  Germany  and  Italy,  and  we  were  unable  to 
find  any  good  reason  why  we  should  not  attempt  to  operate 
one  in  the  United  States. 

We  found  there  was  nothing  unusual  about  connecting  an 
ice  machine  to  an  electric  light  plant,  where  the  lighting  plant 
was  owned  by  a private  corporation;  in  fact  it  seemed  to  be 
quite  the  proper  and  economical  thing  to  do,  but  for  a munici- 
pal corporation  to  do  the  same  thing  seemed  very  socialistic. 
But  our  aversion  for  “Socialism”  finally  gave  way  to  our  de- 
sire for“  businessism,”  and  after  convincing  ourselves  thor- 

oughly of  the  practicability  of  the  experiment,  we  submitted 
the  question  of  a municipal  ice  plant  to  the  people,  and  they 
voted  for  it  by  more  than  two  to  one.  And  while  our  city  hall 
case  was  resting  peacefully  with  the  supreme  court  of  the 

state,  we  spent  our  “city  hall”  money  for  an  ice  plant — the  whole 
investment  for  the  ice  plant  being  a little  more  than  $11,000. 

Benefits  from  Municipal  Ice. 

Befoire  we  built  our  plant  the  ice  we  used  was  shipped  in 
was  of  a poor  quality,  was  sold  at  sixty  cents  per  hundred 

pounds  and  our  people  lost  from  ten  to  twenty  per  cent  on 

account  of  short  weights.  With  our  municipal  plant  in  opera- 
tion full  weights  are  given,  and  a pure  crystal  ice  is  sold  at 
prices  ranging  from  forty  cents  per  hundred,  delivered  in 
small  quantities,  down  to  fifteen  cents  per  hundred  in  car  load 
lots.  Our  total  receipts  for  ice  during  the  1913  season  were 
$4,600.  Our  total  expenses  for  the  same  period  were  $2,  100, 
or  a profit  of  $2,500.  And  we  estimate  the  difference. to  the 
people  in  quality  and  weights  saved  them  at  least  another 
$1,000. 

In  addition  to  this,  we  furnished  free  ice  to  a great  many 
public  gatherings  and  considerable  ice  to  the  poor  and  sick,  which 
was  charged  off  as  free  service.  The  ice  to  the  poor  and  sick 
was  furnished  on  the  recommendation  of  the  board  of  health. 
Our  total  receipts  last  year  were  $4,800,  and  our  total  expense 
for  the  same  period  has  been  $2,000,  or  a profit  of  $2,800. 
Some  of  our  people  who  were  the  strongest  in  their  opposition 
to  the  municipal  ice  plant  before  it  was  installed  are  now  its 
most  enthusiastic  supporters. 

In  a limited  number  of  states,  cities  have  authority  to  oper- 
ate municipal  ice  plants,  if  they  wish  to  do  so.  In  other  states, 
cities  can  operate  some  utilities,  but  can  not  operate  ice  plants. 
In  some  cases  cities  have  authority  to  operate  all  public  utili- 


University  of  Oklahoma  A7 

ties,  but  the  courts  have  stepped  in  and  held  that  ice  plants  are 
not  public  utilities. 

As  to  how  far  the  municipality  should  go  in  the  way  of 
public  ownership  of  the  things  which  are  closely  related  to  the 
health,  convenience  and  pocket-books  <pf  the  people,  is  a live 
question  at  this  time.  It  is  a generally  accepted  fact  that  a sew- 
er system  is  a public  utility.  In  other  words,  the  municipaltiy 
must  build  its  own  sewer  system,  because  there  is  not  suffici- 
ent revenue  from  it  to  pay  interest  on  the  investment.  Private 
capital  cannot  be  induced  to  build  it,  and  we  must  have  it — 
therefore,  it  is  decidedly  a public  utility.  In  smaller  cities,  in 
most  cases,  it  is  impossiple  to  make  a water  system  self-sus- 
taining from  a financial  standpoint,  and  private  corporations 
will  not  build  them.  If  the  small  city  has  an  adequate  system  of 
fire  protection,  and  the  conveniences  of  a water  system,  these 
must  be  municipally  owned  In  still  smaller  cities,  for  the  same 
reason,  private  corporations  will  not  build  electric  light  plants, 
unless  they  are  favored  with  a very  liberal  street  lighting  con- 
tract. Yet  if  a man  advocates  the  municipal  ownership  of  the  ice 
business,  or  any  other  profitable  business,  he  is  very  apt  to 
be  dubbed  a Socialist. 

It  seems  to  me  that  where  the  municipality  is  compelled  to 
build  sewer,  water  and  light  plants,  investing  large  sums  of 
money,  because  the  plants  will  not  pay  dividends  on  private 
capital,  it  is  not  unreasonable  that  the  municipality  should 
make  an  additional  small  investment  in  the  ice  business,  which 
does  sometimes  pay  dividends  on  the  investment. 

If  the  city  can  handle  water  in  its  liquid  state,  why  should  it 
be  barred  from  handling  water  in  its  frozen  or  solid  state?  If 
electricity  is  a necessity,  is  ice  a luxury?  The  poor  people  of 
a community  may  use  oil  lamps  without  serious  injury  to  their 
health  much  better  than  they  can  properly  care  for  their  milk, 
butter  and  other  foodstuffs,  during  hot  weather  without  ice. 
It  seems  to  me,  where  it  has  been  decided  that  ice  is  a luxury 
rather  than  a necessity,  and  therefore  not  a public  utility,  it 
would  be  more  easily  understood  if  the  courts  would  define  a 
public  utility  as  any  utility  which  cannot  be  handled  at  a profit 
by  a private  corporation. 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSION  OF  MUNICIPAL  UTILI- 
TIES WITH  PARTICULAR  REFERENCE 
TO  THE  SMALLER  CITIES 

Mr.  Cooper,  Chairman:  Assisted  by  Mr.  Talbot. 

Mr.  Cooper:  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  the  expenses  of  the 
ice  plant  are  $2,200? 

Answer:  Yes,  sir. 

Question:  Does  part  of  that  expense  go  to  the  electric 
light  plant? 

Answer:  No,  the  idea  was  to  charge  to  the  ice  plant  merely 
the  additional  expense.  I would  say  this:  In  that  is  included  the 
salary  of  one  engineer  all  of  the  time,  and  an  estimate  of  the 
fuel  cost,  which  in  my  opinion  is  about  double  what  it  was. 

McDonnell:  Along  this  line  of  discussion,  it  has  occured  to 
me  that  municipal  activities  are  rapidly  changing.  I recollect 
that  not  many  years  ago  it  was  considered  unusual  that  a mu- 
nicipality should  put  in  a water  plant.  A few  years  later 
light  plants  came  along,  and  some  people  were  afraid  of  that. 

Speaking  of  sewers,  I find  that  there  are  something  over 
thirty-five  privately  owned  systems  in  the  state  of  Texas.  There 
is  very  little  expense  connected  with  them  after  the  first  in- 
stallation, and  they  have  probably  found  it  profitable. 

Conditions  are  changing.  We  find  that  they  are  beginning  to 
realize  that  municipalities  can  now  do  anything  that  a private 
individual  or  corporation  can  do.  In  my  city  we  have  made  an 
effort  to  get  good  milk.  And  that  campaign  to  get  good  milk 
was  one  of  the  strongest  features  of  putting  one  man  out  of 
office.  We  have  in  Kansas  City,  something  like  two  thousand 
dairies,  and  some  of  them  were  very  filthy,  serving  a class  of 
milk  alive  with  bacteria,  and  we  had  tried  five  to  seven  years 
before  to  see  if  we  could  get  that  regulated,  but  we  reached 
the  conclusion  that  cities  which  have  grown  tired  of  enforcing 
regulations  and  having  bad  milk,  should  get  municipal  control 
and  regulation  of  it. 

I feel  that  the  field  for  municipal  activities  is  broadening,  and 
our  work  is  to  carry  on  a campaign  of  education,  to  get  this 
idea  before  the  people,  so  that  we  will  not  be  called  socialists. 


University  of  Oklahoma 


49 


I feel  that  we  ought  to  study  the  needs  from  the  ground  up, 
beginning  with  the  school  classes.  I feel  that  this  ice  plant 
at  Weatherford  has  been  such  a good  step.  The  service  is  real- 
ly the  point  to  be  considered.  The  profits  are  a secondary 
matter.  That  should  be  taken  over  by  someone  to  conduct  it 
safely. 

Mr.  Cooper:  What  rate  have  you  on  electricity? 

Answer:  We  have  a rate  of  10  cents  per  kilowatt,  $1.00  min- 
imum. 

And  we  have  a water  rate  of  4,000  gallons,  $1.00.  In  quanti- 
ties, 15  cents  per  thousand.  That  in  my  opinion  is  lower  than 
it  should  be  in  a town  where  fuel  is  so  high.  I think  it  would 
be  an  impossibility  for  anyone  to  come  in  and  compete  with 
it  and  make  interest  on  their  investment. 

Question:  Do  you  make  a charge  for  fire  hydrants,  and  so 
much  for  street  lights? 

Answer:  We  make  a charge  of  $100.00  per  month  for  street 
lights,  and  the  average  rate  if  by  a private  company  would  be 
$300.00  or  $400.00  per  month  for  the  same  service. 

Question-  If  you  charged  for  the  fire  hydrants,  you  would 
have  it  self-sustaining,  wouldn’t  you? 

Answer:  I figured  that  if  we  supply  that  service  and  re- 
ceived 15  cent  rate,  the  average  in  Oklahoma,  and  the  average 
rate  for  water,  that  we  would  have  about  $21,000  per  year 
more  than  we  have.  I don’t  think  it  is  a question  of  whether 
it  is  less  money,  but  whether  the  people  get  the  most  benefit 
from  the  plant.  Of  course  the  amount  $21,000  is  not  right,  for 
the  reason  that  they  would  not  use  as  much  if  the  rate  were 
higher.  The  thing  I have  tried  was  to  get  enough  money  to  pay 
the  coal  bills,  and  to  see  that  the  people  get  the  benefit. 

Question:  Does  the  city  deliver  the  ice? 

Answer:  Yes,  sir,  we  take  the  ice  the  same  as  a private  cor- 
poration. 

Question:  Forty  cents  per  hundred  delivered? 

Answer:  Yes,  sir,  for  small  deliveries.  However,  we  charge 
sixty  cents  per  hundred  for  cash  purchases;  Forty  cents  if 
you  buy  a coupon  book.  For  the  cash  purchases  a receipt  is 
given,  and  when  the  receipt  is  presented  at  the  office,  it  is  good 
for  twenty  cents.  Our  experience  was  this  formerly.  They  took 
a man  from  the  plant  and  put  him  on  the  wagon.  In  the  office 
his  salary  was  sixty  dollars  and  on  the  wagon  they  gave  him  for- 
ty-five. When  asked  why  this  was  he  said:  Tf  you  can’t  make 


50 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


more  than  $15.00  on  that  ice  wagon,  you  have  got  no  busi- 
ness on  it.  He  says,  ‘Now  you  know  me;  you  know  I had  few 
complaints.’  He  says,  ‘I  will  work  for  a small  salary  and  take 
the  risk,  or  on  a large  salary  and  on  the  square.’  But  we  didn’t 
give  him  the  job,  and  we  work  it  so  the  city  gets  the  money. 
The  cash  sale  proposition  is  limited  by  the  increase  in  price* 

Question:  If  the  $10,000  was  to  build  a city  hall,  how  did 
you  manage  to  build  the  ice  plant  with  it? 

Answer:  We  put  it  up  to  the  people  in  a vote,  whether  they 
wanted  to  change  it  from  the  city  hall  to  the  ice  plant. 

Question:  About  what  does  that  ice  plant  net  you  every 
year? 

Answer:  We  have  $140,000.00  invested  in  water,  electric 
light  and  sewer.  We  invested  $10,000  in  the  ice  plant  and  that 
pulls  us  out  of  the  hole.  By  figuring  the  money  we  get  from 
the  ice,  that  $10,000  is  a benefit  of  $2,500  to  $3,500  per  year. 

Question:  In  addition  you  still  make  a levy  for  your  water 
and  light  plant? 

Answer:  Just  a sinking  fund  only.  And  we  are  gradually 
reducing  that.  It  really  does  furnish  in  money  and  in  service,  a 
very  satisfactory  return. 

The  municipality  ought  to  own  the  things  which  work  har- 
moniously with  the  things  they  have.  I think  it  is  the  height 
of  folly  to  maintain  a light  and  water  plant  and  pay  a high 
price  for  ice  and  not  put  in  an  ice  plant  in  a small  town  like 


ours. 


WHAT  IS  THE  CITY  MANAGER  PLAN? 


Herman  G.  James,  J.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  Director  of  the  Bureau  of 
Municipal  Research  and  Reference,  University  of  Texas. 

To  understand  the  full  significance  of  the  newest  develop- 
ment in  American  municipal  government  it  is  necessary  to 
know  something  of  the  history  of  that  government  in  the  past 
and  to  see  in  what  relation  this  latest  phase  of  development 
stands  to  what  has  gone  before.  Fir  this  purpose  we  may  con- 
veniently divide  American  municipal  history  into  three  main 
though  quite  unequal  periods.  The  first  extends  from  the  be- 
ginning of  American  cities  in  Colonial  days  to  the  beginning  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century.  The  second  covers  roughly  the  per- 
iod of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  The  third  extends  from  1900  to 
the  present  time,  marking  the  origin  and  first  extension  of 
commission  government  and  the  city  manager  plan.  It  is  need- 
less to  say  that  these  periods  are  not  in  all  particulars  clearly 
defined  or  determined  as  separate  entities,  and,  indeed,  from 
some  points  of  view  these  time  divisions  will  be  found  to  be 
largely  arbitrary.  But  with  regard  to  the  matter  of  principal 
Interest  here,  namely,  the  relation  of  the  city  manager  plan  to 
what  has  preceded  it,  we  may  accept  the  division  here  adopted 
as  a working  basis. 

Colonial  Municipal  Government:  The  earliest  period  of  city 
government  showed,  as  might  be  expected,  a virtual  reproduc- 
tion in  the  colonies  of  the  framework  of  government  found  in 
the  cities  of  the  mother  country,  England.  The  larger  colonial 
cities  were  public  corporations  with  certain  implied  rights  re- 
sulting from  their  nature  as  corporations,  but  otherwise  possess- 
ing only  such  rights  as  were  granted  by  the  charter.  This  char- 
ter or  instrument  of  incorporation  was  granted  in  the  colonies, 
as  in  England,  by  the  Executive,  that  is  by  the  Colonial  Govern- 
or. It  provided  a framework  of  government  essentially  similar 
in  the  score  or  so  of  incorporated  boroughs  or  cities  existing 
in  the  colonies.  The  governing  body  was  a council  elected  by 
the  voters  under  a suffrage  very  considerably  limited  by  tax- 
paying,  property  or  other  qualifications.  This  council  was  en- 
dowed with  all  powers  of  local  government  that  were  granted 


52 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


at  that  time  to  the  cities  and  there  was  no  independent  execu- 
tive. There  was  a mayor,  it  is  true,  but  like  the  English  pro- 
totype, he  was  not  a separate  governmental  organ,  but  merely 
a member  of  the  council,  whether  chosen  by  it  or,  as  was  quite 
frequent,  appointed  by  the  Governor.  He  enjoyed,  it  is  true, 
some  judicial  powers,  alone  or  together  with  the  Aldermen,  who 
were  also  members  of  the  council,  just  the  same  as  the  so-called 
councillors.  There  was  almost  no  administration  to  speak  of 
in  those  early  days,  but  what  there  was  was  conducted,  as  in 
England,  by  committees  of  the  council.  The  striking  thing, 
therefore,  about  the  colonial  system  of  municipal  government 
was  the  union  of  all  powers  in  a single-chambered  body.  It 
may  be  remarked  here  that  while  American  municipal  develop- 
ment from  that  time  on  has  been  marked  with  continual  change 
and  experimentation  in  the  organization  of  city  government, 
in  England  today  the  framework  of  city  government  is  virtual- 
ly the  same  as  that  in  the  colonial  municipalities  described 
above. 

The  Nineteenth  Century : The  beginning  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  saw  a development  under  way  in  American  cities  which 
was  soon  consummated,  and  which  established  the  broad  under- 
lying principle  that  characterized  the  next  hundred  years  of 
municipal  history  in  this  country.  This  development  was  the 
imitation  of  and  incorporation  into  city  government  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  separate  and  independent  legislative  and  executive 
branches  of  government.  This  principle  had  been  incorporated 
into  our  State  and  National  governments  when  they  were  cre- 
ated as  new  and  independent  political  entities,  largely  through 
the  influence  of  Montesquien’s  political  philosophy  on  the  Amer- 
ican statesmen  of  the  Revolutionary  and  post-Revolutionary  pe- 
riod. It  was  later  woven  into  the  framework  of  municipal 
government  apparently  in  mere  imitation  of  the  Federal  plan, 
not  because  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  results  of  the  existing 
form  of  municipal  government. 

It  is  necessary  to  dwell  here  somewhat  at  length  on  this 
change  in  the  plan  of  city  government  in  this  country,  for  not 
only  was  it  determinative  of  the  fundamental  character  of  our 
municipal  framework  for  the  next  hundred  years,  but  it  also 
has  an  intimate  connection  with  the  most  recent  changes  in  that 
framework,  known  as  commission  government  and  the  commis- 
sion manager  plan.  What  now  was  the  argument  in  favor  of  the 
doctrine  of  creating  separate  and  independent  branches  of  the 


University  of  Oklahoma 


53 


government  as  explained  in  our  State  and  National  systems? 
It  was  to  provide  a system  of  checks  and  balances  between  the 
departments  which  would  safeguard  the  citizens  against  en- 
croachments or  usurpation  of  power  by  one  or  the  other  of  the 
departments  of  government  as  against  the  others.  A union  of 
legislative  and  executive  powers  was  considered  productive  of 
tyranny.  It  was  of  course  perfectly  clear  even  then  that  the 
system  of  checks  and  balances  must  result  in  delay,  friction, 
and  diffusion  of  responsibility,  but  it  was  thought  that  the  pro- 
tection of  the  individual  and  the  State  against  tyranny  and  op- 
pression were  the  considerations  of  prime  importance. 

So  we  had  a bicameral  Congress  and  an  independently  elected 
President  with  the  power  of  recommending  legislation  and  ve- 
toing the  measures  of  which  he  did  not  approve.  In  our  cities 
then,  in  imitation,  we  came  to  have  a Council,  in  some  cases 
even  a bicameral  one,  and  an  independently  elected  Mayor  with 
a power  of  recommending  and  vetoing  legislation.  Of  course 
this  plan  for  cities  was  bound  to  have  the  disadvantages  men- 
tioned above  in  connection  with  its  operation  in  the  Federal  and 
State  Governments,  and  subsequent  municipal  history  has 
shown  that  these  disadvantages  were  by  no  means  purely  theo- 
retical. But  what  of  the  alleged  advantages?  Let  us  grant,  for 
the  sake  of  argument,  that  the  liberties  of  the  individual  de- 
manded, or  at  least  were  well  served  by,  the  system  of  checks 
and  balances  in  the  Federal  Government,  where  no  other  pro- 
tection existed.  What  need  of  such  a cumbersome  weapon  of 
defense  against  the  municipality,  whose  powers  were  lim- 
ited positively  by  the  will  of  the  State  Legislature,  which  was 
absolutely  supreme,  and  negatively  by  the  State  and  Federal 
Constitutions?  There  are  no  liberties  of  the  individual  which 
are  not  adequately  protected  in  these  other  ways,  and  our 
system  of  checks  and  balances  in  the  city  carried  with  it,  there- 
fore, only  disadvantages  and  no  advantages.  And  yet,  in  spite 
oi  the  fact,  for  a hundred  years  there  was  no  attempt,  amid  all 
the  experimentation  that  occurred  to  remedy  the  evil  condi- 
lions  that  gradually  grew  up  in  the  government  of  American 
cities,  to  discard  this  unjustifiable  engrafting  of  a Federal 
growth  on  the  municipal  plant. 

While  the  separation  of  the  executive  and  legislative  powers 
became  and  remained  the  keynote  of  American  municipal  orga- 
nization during  this  period  of  the  nineteenth  century,  there 
were  many  other  developments  of  minor,  though  not  at  all  of 


54 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


mean,  importance  in  our  municipal  history.  Most  significant 
perhaps  of  all  was  the  increase  of  elective  officers  as  an  expres- 
sion of  the  wave  of  democracy  that  swept  over  this  country  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  first  half  of  the  century.  Democracy  it  was 
thought  meant  the  general  election  of  officers  by  the  people 
under  an  ever  widened  suffrage,  and  that  the  more  officers  there 
were  elected  the  more  there  was  of  democracy.  That  this  move- 
ment for  electing  all  possible  and  impossible  officers  in  the  gov- 
ernment lost  sight  of  the  important  distinction  between  repre- 
sentative officers  who  determine  policies  and  administrative  of- 
ficers who  merely  carry  out  the  law  as  passed,  and  that  it  furth- 
er failed  to  see  that  a multitude  of  elective  offices  inevitably  con- 
fuses the  electorate  and  tends  to  defeat  their  will,  did  not  pre- 
vent its  development  during  a long  period  of  years.  Indeed  it 
may  be  said  that  ignoranc  of  these  two  defects  in  the  system 
of  electing  too  many  officers  is  still  so  widespread  as  to  need 
continual  efforts  for  its  elimination.  But  at  least  a beginning 
had  been  made  in  refuting  that  fallacious  theory  even  before  the 
period  we  are  now  considering  was  passed. 

Equally  unfortunate,  though  perhaps  somewhat  easier  of 
refutation,  was  another  doctrine  that  grew  up  about  the  same 
time  as  the  one  just  considered,  and  that  was  the  one  underly- 
ing the  spoils  system.  Not  only  were  as  many  officers  as  pos- 
sible to  be  elected,  but  those  that  were  not  so  elected  should 
give  up  thefr  offices  whenever  a new  party  or  faction  gained 
control  of  the  government.  This,  of  course,  again,  confused 
political  with  non-political  officers  and  made  it  impossible  to  se- 
cure in  the  administrative  offices  any  efficiency  resulting  from 
experience,  there  being  at  the  same  time  almost  no  qualifica- 
tion for  appointmnt  to  office  except  political  allegiance.  The 
first  successful  attempts  to  combat  this  system  were  made  in 
the  domain  of  the  Federal  Government  in  the  last  two  decades 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  from  there  the  movement  for 
civil  service  reform  and  the  merit  system  spread  to  the  states 
and  cities.  Though  much  remains  to  be  done  in  this  direction 
(in  fact,  as  regards  cities  it  may  be  said  that  scarcely  a good 
beginning  has  even  yet  been  made),  nevertheless  a realization 
of  the  evil  effects  of  the  spoils  systm  may  be  said  to  have  become 
somewhat  general  during  the  period  of  municipal  development 
we  are  now  considering. 

The  closing  years  of  this  century  were  marked  by  a tenden- 
cy to  concentrate  administrative  powers  and  responsibilities  in 


University  of  Oklahoma 


55 


the  hands  of  the  Mayor  and  to  increase  his  importance,  both  at 
the  expense  of  the  Council  and  by  making  many  administrative 
authorities  which  were  formerly  elective  appointive  by  him, 
This  was  a very  beneficial  development,  but  nothing  even  in  the 
closing  years  of  the  period  gave  any  promise  of  a departure 
from  the  century-old  shibboleth  of  separation  of  powers,  and 
checks  and  balances. 

The  Twentieth  Century : The  opening  of  the  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury was  marked  by  the  birth  of  the  new  form  of  city  govern- 
ment now  known  far  and  wide  as  the  commission  form  of  gov- 
ernment. The  circumstances  attending  the  adoption  of  this  plan 
in  the  city  of  its  origin,  Galveston,  Texas,  are  too  well  known 
to  require  rehearsal  here.  The  old-style  city  government  there 
had  been  inefficient  for  years,  though  no  worse  than  in  hundreds 
of  other  cities  in  the  country.  The  catastrophe  that  swept  the 
city  in  the  shape  of  the  destructive  storm  and  flood  simply  cre- 
ated conditions  which  were  absolutely  beyond  the  capacity  of 
the  existing  government  to  handle.  In  the  ordinary  course  of 
events  that  city  government  would  have  gone  on  managing  the 
routine  business  of  the  city  in  its  accustomed  inefficient  and 
extravagant  way,  and  the  citizens,  with  that  political  fatalism 
characteristic  of  city  electorates  in  this  country,  would  have  con- 
sented to  the  waste  and  diversion  of  their  taxes  there,  as  they 
did  then  and  do  today  in  many  and  many  another  city  in  the 
United  States.  But  the  great  storm  threatened  the  absolute  de- 
struction of  the  city  in  a financial  and  legal  as  well  as  a physi- 
cal way  unless  heroic  measures  were  adopted  and  adopted  at 
once.  The  indispensable  need  was  for  an  executive  body  with 
virtually  unlimited  powers  to  take  charge  of  the  city’s  affairs 
until  order  could  be  restored. 

That  in  such  emergency  and  for  such  purposes  a system  of 
checks  and  balances  in  the  governing  authority  was  absolutely 
out  of  the  question  was  of  course  self-evident  to  the  men  who 
undertook  to  bring  order  out  of  chaos  in  Galveston.  Similar 
methods  had  been  found  necessary  years  before  to  restore  order 
in  Memphis  when  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  had  paralyzed  the 
ordinary  organs  of  government  there.  The  lasting  service  that 
was 'rendered  in  Galveston  was  the  recognition  that  the  princi- 
ples underlying  the  government  that  proved  effective  in  emer- 
gencies were  sound  ones  for  the  government  in  ordinary  times 
as  well  and  that  a city  could  be  governed,  and  well  governed, 
under  a system  which,  marvelous  to  relate,  discarded  the  sacred 


56  . The  University  of  Oklahoma 

principle  of  the  separation  of  powers.  Here,  then,  after  more 
than  a hundred  years,  the  circle  had  been  completed  and  the 
single  all-power  governing  body  for  cities  which  had  to  be  dis- 
carded soon  after  the  establishment  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment again  came  into  its  own.  The  old  charm  of  checks  and 
balances  in  government  had  been  broken,  and  city  after  city, 
realizing  the  new  freedom  that  came  with  this  disillusionment, 
cast  off  fetters  of  tradition  and  conservatism. 

Commission  Government. 

The  outstanding  characteristic  of  commission  government,  as 
first  applied  in  Galveston  and  later  adopted  by  other  cities,  the 
feature  which  distinguished  it  absolutely  from  what  had  gone 
before  in  American  municipal  government,  was  then,  as  has  been 
seen,  the  substitution  of  a single  body  possessing  all  the  local 
legislative  and  executive  powers,  for  the  dualism  of  the  former 
plan  with  its  council  on  the  one  hand  and  independent  Mayor 
on  the  other.  But  there  are  other  features  of  commission 
governm/ent  which  are  of  importance,  and  some  which  must 
be  considered  before  the  relation  between  the  commission  gov- 
ernment and  the  city  manager  plan  can  be  understood. 

So  many  variations  of  commission  government  have  arisen 
and  the  name  has  been  applied  to  so  many  different  manifesta- 
tions of  municipal  government  in  the  last  few  years  that  it  is  not 
possible  to  make  statements  concerning  this  new  form  which 
will  hold  true  for  all  cities  that  may  be  classed  as  commission 
governed.  But  certain  important  features  are  found  in  so  large 
a number  of  these  cities  that  they  may  properly  be  spoken  of  as 
characteristic  of  the  class  as  a whole. 

Considering  first  those  features  of  commission  government 
which  seem  to  be  desirable  and  valuable  for  any  form  of  city 
government,  we  may  begin  by  mentioning  the  non-partisan  pri- 
maries and  elections  found  in  many  of  the  commission  cities.  It 
has  long  been  recognized  that  a large  part  of  the  political  cor- 
ruption found  in  American  cities  was  due  directly  or  indirectly 
to  the  fact  that  city  politics  were  controlled  by  state  and  na- 
tional machines.  This  resulted  in  the  subordination  of  the  in- 
terests of  the  city  to  the  welfare  of  the  party  organization  in 
state  and  nation,  to  the  ignoring  of  local  issues  as  factors  in 
municipal  campaigns,  and,  worst  of  all,  to  the  exploitation  of 
the  city  with  its  large  patronage  for  the  benefit  of  a boss  or  a 
ring  who  recognized  no  responsibility  save  to  superiors  in  the 
larger  party  organization.  It  came  gradually  to  be  realized, 


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therefore,  that  to  eliminate  the  domination  of  local  politics 
by  a machine  and  to  encourage  independent  candidates  it  would 
be  necessary  to  diminish  as  far  as  possible  the  advantage  en- 
joyed by  a regular  party  nominee.  For  this  purpose  the  non- 
partisan primary  and  election  were  believed  to  be  the  most 
effective  means.  Candidates,  therefore,  are  under  this  system 
nominated  or  elected,  as  the  case  may  be,  on  ballots  which  bear 
no  party  designation,  and  a place  on  which  may  be  obtained 
by  the  mere  filing  of  a petition  signed  by  a small  number  of 
electors. 

A second  desirable  change  introduced  with  commission  gov- 
ernment and  almost  invariably  found  in  all  commission  charters 
is  the  substitution  of  election  at  large  for  election  by  wards.. 
That  is,  the  commissioners  are  chosen  in  the  city  as  a whole  in- 
stead of  from  smaller  election  districts.  The  evils  of  the  system 
of  ward  election  in  this  country  were  also  by  no  means  unknown 
when  commission  government  first  began.  One  of  the  worst 
words  in  our  political  vocabulary  had  long  since  been  the  desig- 
nation “ward  politician”  as  embodying  all  that  is  small  and  con- 
temptible and  mean  in  municipal  political  life.  The  representa- 
tives from  each  city  ward  were  primarily  engaged,  like  their  pro- 
totypes, the  Representatives  in  Congress,  in  securing  for  their 
respective  wards  a good  share  of  the  political  pie  and  pork  bar- 
rel, and  the  log-rolling  tactics  of  the  councils  in  some  of  our 
American  cities  would  have  put  even  that  past  master  in  the  art, 
the  National  House  of  Representatives,  to  shame  had  they  been 
compared.  In  the  national  legislature  congressional  districts 
are  inevitable,  and  we  shall  have  to  wait  for  improvement  in  the 
direction  of  larger-minded  representatives  on  the  slow  process 
of  public  education.  But  in  our  cities,  with  a few  exceptions  in 
the  case  of  some  of  the  largest  ones,  neither  necessity  nor  desir- 
ability requires  representation  by  districts.  The  city  is  essential- 
ly a unit  in  its  needs,  and  plans  for  meeting  those  needs  should 
be  the  result  of  considering  the  interests  of  the  city  as  a whole, 
not  the  resultant  of  all  the  ward  forces  pulling  in  different  di- 
rections. The  location  of  public  buildings,  the  laying  out  of 
parks,  the  paving  of  streets  and  all  other  activities  of  the  city  in 
the  matter  of  public  improvements  must  be  determined  on  a large 
basis.  The  councilman  whose  re-election  depends  on  his  getting 
a school  building  or  a park  or  a fountain  for  his  ward  is  not 
capable  of  looking  at  such  questions  in  a large  way.  And  so  we 
find  that  one  of  the  most  satisfactory  accomplishments  of  com- 


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mission  government  has  been  the  elimination  of  ward  politics 
to  a very  considerable  extent. 

Third,  we  find  that  commission  government  is  credited  with 
the  reduction  of  the  size  of  the  council,  at  least  in  cities  of 
50,000  inhabitants  or  more.  Our  city  councils  have  not  only  in 
a number  of  cases  been  two-chambered,  which  in  the  case  of 
city  legislatures  is  utterly  indefensible,  but  in  most  of  the  larger 
cities  they  have  ben  too  large  in  membership.  In  commission 
governed  cities  the  represntative  body  is  usually  composed  of 
five  members,  and  this  small  body  has  been  found  in  practice  to 
be  as  representative  as  were  the  larger  councils  which  they  re- 
placed, if  not  indeed  more  so.  For  cities  of  more  than  a quarter 
of  a million  population  a gradually  increasing  council  might 
prove  desirable,  provided  it  still  remain  distinctly  smaller  than 
any  of  the  councils  now  usually  found  in  our  largest  cities.  Per- 
haps fifteen  to  twenty-five  might  be  regarded  as  including  the 
uppermost  limit,  no  matter  how  large  the  city.  Individual  res- 
ponsibility of  representatives  increases  inversely  with  the  size 
of  the  representative  body.  The  smaller  the  body  the  greater 
individual  responsibility. 

Fourthly,  we  find  an  element  of  popular  control  present  in 
commission  charters  of  the  old  form.  Reference  is  here  had  to 
the  modern  devices  known  as  the  initative,  referendum  and  re- 
call. The  first  gives  the  voters  a chance  to  compel  the  enact- 
ment of  legislation  they  may  desire,  even  against  the  wish  of  the 
council  or  commission.  The  second  enables  the  voters  to  re- 
ject undesired  legislation  which  the  representative  body  may 
wish  to  impose  upon  them.  The  third  enables  the  voters  to  put 
out  of  office  a representative  before  the  end  of  his  term  if  he 
proves  unworthy  of  his  office.  These  measures  are  intended  in 
commission  cities  as  weapons  of  defense  to  offset  the  concentra- 
tion of  large  powers  in  the  hands  of  a relatively  small  body  of 
men,  but  viewed  in  their  proper  light  they  would  prove  just  as 
valuable  under  the  old  form  of  government,  indeed  probably 
more  so.  These  devices  of  popular  control  have  been  imported 
into  this  country  from  Switzerland  in  response  to  a growing 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  our  so-called  representative  gov- 
ernment was  not  truly  representative,  and  it  was  thought  that 
these  devices  would  help  to  make  it  so.  The  true  light  in  which 
to  regard  them  is,  therefore,  that  of  emergency  measures  to  be 
invoked  on  extraordinary  occassions  only  and  not  on  slight  pro- 
vocation. For  that  reason  the  percentages  of  voters’  signatures 


, "//./,/  )- 

University  of  Oklahoma  59 

required  to  a petition  to  bring  them  into  play  ought  to  be  high 
enough  to  insure  that  these  weapons  will  be  used  in  this  way 
only.  Experience  would  seem  to  show  that  a requirement  of 
30  per  cent  of  the  -registered  voters  would  insure  that  the  weap- 
ons would  not  be  lightly  used.  Most  commission  charters  are 
defective  in  that  they  make  this  requirement  too  low. 

So  far  we  have  been  considering  the  desirable  features  us- 
ually found  in  commission  city  charters.  We  must  now  take  up 
a consideration  of  some  of  the  shortcomings  of  this  new  plan. 
Of  course  it  will  not  be  possible  to  enter  upon  a consideration 
of  all  the  improvements  in  government  which  municipal  science 
has  shown  to  be  desirable  in  every  city,  no  matter  what  its 
form  of  government,  such  for  instance  as  improved  accounting 
records  and  budget  procedure,  civil  service  merit  provisions, 
preferential  ballot  and  safeguards  covering  bond  issues  and  the 
granting  of  public  utility  franchises.  These  matters  are  all  dis- 
cussed by  the  author  in  another  connection.*  It  is  sufficient  to 
point  out  here  that  commission  governed  cities  have  not  as  a 
rule  shown  any  marked  improvement  in  these  directions  over 
the  old  form  of  city  government. 

But  not  every  feature  of  commission  government  can  be  re- 
garded in  the  same  favorable  light  as  those  just  considered. 
There  are  at  least  two  points  to  be  noted  in  which  commission 
government  is  distinctly  defective.  The  first  one  is  to  be  found 
in  the  manner  of  choosing  the  heads  of  administrative  depart- 
ments. Commissioners  are  elected  as  representatives  of  the 
people  and  at  the  same  time  as  directors  of  administrative  de- 
partments. Now  popular  election  is  of  course  the  only  way  in 
which  -representatives,  that  is  men  charged  with  the  duty  of  de- 
termining legislative  policies,  can  be  chosen.  That  it  is  impossible 
to  select  men  for  positions  that  require  professional  training, 
skill  and  experience  by  popular  vote  is  one  of  the  lessons  that  ev- 
en the  last  century  was  beginning  to  learn.  Such  positions  can  be 
filled  properly  in  only  one  way,  namely,  by  appointment,  and  in 
going  back  to  the  system  of  electing  administrative  officers  com- 
mission government  took  a distinct  step  backward  as  compared 
with  the  best  and  the  growing  practice  of  the  previous  period  of 
municipal  development. 

It  may,  of  course,  be  answered  that  this  defect  in  commis- 
sion government  could  be  cured  by  considering  the  commission- 
ers as  mere  supervisory  heads  of  departments  and  providing 
under  them  expert  heads  for  the  actual  administration.  But 


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the  trouble  with  this  remedy  is  that  in  the  smaller  cities  at  any 
rate,  say  those  of  100,000  or  less  (and  these  constitute  the  vtrf 
great  majority  of  commission  cities)  there  is  no  need  of  two 
distinct  heads  for  the  departments.  Commissioners  are  always 
given  a remuneration  and  in  a large  and  growing  number  of 
commission  cities  are  expected  to  devote  their  entire  time  to 
the  work  of  their  departments,  which  work  consists  almost 
wholly  of  administrative  details.  An  expert  professional  head 
for  the  department  becomes  an  unwarranted  expense  therefore 
which  smaller  cities  will  not  assume.  The  only  remedy  would 
seem  to  make  the  elected  department  head  an  honorary  officer 
and  to  use  the  salaries  now  paid  to  commissioners  toward  se- 
curing really  expert  administrators  responsible  to  them. 

There  is  another  very  important  aspect  in  which  commission 
government  is  defective,  and  in  which  also  it  is  inferior  even  to 
the  better  city  government  of  the  old  mayor  and  council  form, 
and  this  defectiveness  and  inferiority  lie  also  in  the  organization 
of  the  administration.  We  have  seen  that  there  was  a marked 
tendency  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  to  concentrate  in  the 
hands  of  the  mayor  all  the  administrative  powers  of  the  city  by 
making  him  the  responsible  executive.  The  development  was 
entirely  in  accord  with  the  fundamental  principles  of  public  ad- 
ministration which  demand  administrative  concentration  and 
centralization  in  place  of  the  former  customary  division  of  power 
and  diffusion  of  responsibility  between  the  mayor  and  a number 
of  elective  administrative  authorities,  or  prior  to  that  between 
the  mayor  and  the  council. 

Commission  government,  on  the  other  hand,  developed  the 
principle  that  each  of  the  commissioners  should  be  the  head  of 
a department  of  administration  and  individually  responsible  for 
that  department.  Theoretically  it  is  true  the  commission  as  a 
whole  is  responsible  for  the  administrative  as  well  as  the  legis- 
lative side,  but  in  popular  imagination  and  in  actual  practice 
each  commissioner  is  an  independent  administrative  head  and 
his  is  the  real  responsibility  for  the  effectiveness  of  his  depart- 
ment. Manifestly  this  makes  a five-headed  executive  for  the  city 
as  a whole  and  one  would  expect  the  inconveniences  that  inevi- 
tably result  from  a diffusion  of  executive  powers  to  make  them- 
selves felt  under  such  an  arrangement.  It  is  a curious  fact  that 
while  advocates  of  commission  government  have  stressed  the  an- 
alogy between  corporate  organization  with  its  board  of  direct- 
ors and  commission  government  with  its  commission  of  five, 


University  of  Oklahoma 


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they  have  failed  to  notice  the  lack  of  any  officer  in  the  city  cor- 
responding to  the  most  important  factor  in  corporate  manage- 
ment, the  president  or  manager. 

In  point  of  practice  the  results  of  this  administrative  diffu- 
sion in  commission  cities  have  not  been  slow  in  making  them- 
selves felt.  The  work  of  administration  in  a city  is  of  such  a 
nature  that  it  cannot  be  absolutely  divided  into  separate  depart- 
ments. No  matter  what  distribution  of  functions  is  made  there 
will  inevitably  be  intersecting  spheres  of  activity  among  all  the 
departments.  To  avoid  friction,  working  at  cross  purposes,  du- 
plication and  waste  there  must  be  some  means  of  compelling 
co-operation  in  such  matters  among  the  departments.  Volun- 
tary co-operation  cannot  be  relied  on  to  solve  these  difficult 
problems,  for  under  the  scheme  of  individual  responsibility  for 
departments  each  comissioner  is  inevitably  primarily  interested 
in  having  his  department  make  a good  showing  and  give  satis- 
faction. His  re-election  depends  not  on  how  helpful  he  proves 
to  his  colleagues  in  co-operating  with  them  in  matters  that  lie 
on  the  border  line  between  their  departments,  but  on  the  crea- 
tion of  the  impression  that  his  department  at  least  is  efficiently 
managed.  Perhaps  he  may  even  profit  personally  by  hindering 
the  smoothest  posible  working  of  the  other  departments,  if  he 
can  do  so  in  a negative  way.  It  would  be  easy  to  find  instances 
in  every  commission  city  of  delay,  duplication  and  waste  due  to 
this  lack  of  centralized  administrative  power.  Mayors  in  some 
commission  cities  are  already  advocating  the  concentration  of 
moire  power  in  the  hands  of  the  mayor  in  order  to  overcome 
this  unfortunate  condition. 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  the  prime  defects  of  commission 
government  are  on  the  administrative  side,  namely,  ignoring  the 
need  of  administrative  experts,  and  the  lack  of  concentration  of 
administrative  power.  If  these  two  important  defects  could  be 
remedied  while  at  the  same  time  the  recognized  advantages  of 
the  commission  form  were  retained  we  should  have  a form  of  gov- 
ernment which  would  be  distinctly  better  than  anything  we  have 
so  far  tried  in  this  country.  It  is  time  now  to  take  up  the  con- 
sideration of  the  newest  municipal  development  in  this  country, 
the  city  manager  plan,  and  to  see  how  it  is  related  to  the  muni- 
cipal developments  we  have  considered  above. 

The  City  Manager  Plan. 

The  first  instance  of  the  use  of  the  term  “manage”  in  con- 
nection with  municipal  administration  in  this  country  seems  to 


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The  University  of  Oklahoma 


have  been  in  an  ordinance  of  the  city  council  of  Staunton,  Vir- 
ginia, early  in  1908.  That  city  had  been  desirous  of  introducing 
greater  efficiency  into  its  government  and  was  looking,  as  were 
scores  of  other  cities  at  the  time,  to  commission  government  as 
a means  of  improvement.  Owing  to  constitutional  inhibitions, 
however,  it  was  not  possible  to  adopt  the  commission  form  of 
government  in  Virginia  at  that  time,  and  so  the  city  did  what 
was  considered  the  next  best  thing.  It  provided  by  ordinance 
for  a general  manager  in  connection  with  the  old  mayor  and 
council  form  of  government.  As  this  plan  has  since  been  fol- 
lowed by  a number  of  other  cities,  usually  for  the  same  reason,, 
viz.,  the  inability  to  adopt  commission  government,  it  is  well  to 
consider  for  a moment  this  original  form  of  the  city  manager 
government. 

The  first  thing  to  be  noted  with  regard  to  the  Staunton  plan 
is  that  it  lacks  the  advantages  which  we  have  seen  to  be  con- 
nected with  the  commission  form.  It  is,  indeed,  distinctly  in- 
ferior to  that  form  in  many  respects  and  is  not  to  be  recom- 
mended in  preferance  thereto,  though  it  does  emphasize  the  two- 
features  which  commision  government  lacks,  namely,  the  ex- 
pert element  in  municipal  administration,  and  the  principle  of 
concentration  of  administrative  powers.  But  the  plan  of  a 
general  manager  for  the  business  side  of  city  government  is 
unquestionably  a desirable  innovation  in  city  government  even 
under  the  old  mayor  and  council  form.  We  may  say,  therefore,, 
that  for  cities  which  are  unable  to  adopt  the  commission  fea- 
tures which  have  been  discussed  above,  the  Staunton  plan  is 
worthy  of  adoption.  But  for  cities  that  are  free  to  reorganize 
their  framework  of  government,  the  first  change  should  be  the 
incorporation  of  the  desirable  features  of  commission  govern- 
ment. 

It  is  evident  from  what  has  just  been  said  that  a combina- 
tion of  the  good  features  of  commission  government  with  the 
idea  of  a single  administrative  chief  or  manager  would  be  prefer- 
able to  either  of  the  features,  alone.  The  first  practical  attempt 
to  effect  such  a combination  appears  to  have  been  made  by  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Lockport,  New  York,  in  1911,  when 
it  caused  to  be  submitted  to  the  legislature  of  that  state  a bill 
permitting  cities  of  the  third  class  to  adopt  a form  of  govern- 
ment combining  with  a commission  of  the  usual  type  a city 
manager  appointed  by  it  to  take  charge  of  the  administration 
of  the  city.  This  bill,  however,  was  defeated,  so  the  plan  could 


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not  then  and  there  be  put  into  operation. 

The  first  city  actually  to  put  the  plan  of  combined  commis- 
sion and  city  manager  features  into  operation  was  apparently 
Sumpter,  S.  C.,  in  1912.  Sumpter  is  for  that  reason  frequently 
spoken  of  as  the  place  of  origin  of  the  city  manager  plan,  as 
Galveston  is  known  as  the  place  of  origin  of  the  commission 
plan.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  was  Staunton  that 
first  applied  the  idea  of  a manager  feature  fotr  cities  and  may 
therefore  properly  claim  to  have  originated  the  city  manager 
movement.  It  is  possible  to  distinguish  between  the  Staunton 
plan  and  the  Sumpter  plan  by  calling  the  first  the  general  mana- 
ger plan  and  the  second  the  commission  manager  plan,  which 
would  sufficiently  indicate  the  principal  point  of  difference.  As 
we  have  already  seen  that  the  commission  idea  with  the  manager 
idea  is  a better  combination  than  the  old  mayor  and  council 
with  a manager  feature,  we  shall  hereafter  speak  of  the  “com- 
mission manager  plan”  to  designate  what  is  generally  called  the 
city  manager  plan,  and  to  exclude  from  our  consideration  the 
Staunton  plan  and  its  followers. 

We  have  now  proceeded  far  enough  to  answer  the  query 
which  is  the  title  of  this  writing,  What  is  the  City  Manager 
Plan?  Only  now  in  a changed  form  in  accordance  with  the 
ideas  developed  above,  the  query  will  be,  What  is  the  Commis- 
sion Manager  Plan? 

The  commission  manager  plan  is  a form  of  government 
which  combines  the  ideas  of  a small  representative  body,  elected 
at  large  on  a nonpartisan  ballot,  possessing  all  ultimate  legal 
powers  of  the  city,  and  subject  to  certain  important  checks  in  the 
hands  of  the  electorate,  with  concentration  of  administrative 
power  in  a single  individual  chosen  by  the  representative 
body  because  of  expert  professional  qualifications.  Such  a plan 
it  is  seen  adopts  the  valuable  features  of  commission  government 
and  remedies  the  two  fundamental  defects  of  that  form.  Such 
in  bold  outline  is  the  commission  manager  plan  of  city  govern- 
ment. 

It  is  not  possible  here  to  show  how  these  features  should 
actually  be  embodied  in  a city  chapter.  But  it  is  necessary  to  point 
out  that  in  connection  with  the  city  manager  plan  there  should 
be  adopted  various  improved  governmental  devices  which  have 
been  too  long  neglected  in  all  city  governments  in  this  country, 
whatever  their  form,  mayor  and  council,  or  commission.  In 
fact  they  become  especially  important  in  connection  with  the 


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The  University  of  Oklahoma 


commission  manager  form  as  it  stresses  above  all  else  efficien- 
cy in  administration.  The  two  most  important  of  these  all  but 
universally  neglected  features  are  the  adoption  of  proper  civil 
service  merit  rules  and  regulations  for  the  administrative 
personnel  of  the  city,  and  provisions  for  the  proper  manage- 
ment of  the  city’s  finances. 

In  the  commission  manager  plan  the  commission  chooses  and 
dismisses  the  manager,  and  he  selects,  controls,  and  removes 
the  rest  of  the  administrative  force  of  the  city.  To  do  this  effect- 
ively he  must  have  large  powers,  but  to  give  him  unlimited 
powers  would  be  to  put  in  his  hands  without  check  the  enor- 
mous patronage  of  the  city.  The  temptation  to  abuse  the 
power  of  patronage  has  been  one  of  the  most  irresistible  of 
temptations  to  politicians  in  this  country,  and  the  resulting  evils 
have  been  among  the  worst  of  the  many  that  have  afflicted  our 
city  governments.  To  guard  against  the  perpetuation  and  even 
exaggeration  of  these  evils  in  the  new  form  of  government  it 
is  absolutely  necessary  that  civil  service  merit  rules  governing 
the  whole  matter  of  appointments  and  removals  and  adminis 
trative  control  be  regulated  by  law,  and  administered  by  an  in- 
dependent authority. 

Of  equal  importance  for  the  attainment  of  maximum  effici- 
ency in  the  administration  of  the  business  affairs  of  the 
city  are  proper  provisions  for  the  management  of  the  finances. 
Accurate,  intelligible  reports  and  accounts,  and  a scientific  bud- 
get proceedure  are  indispensable  to  proper  management.  The 
charter  of  a city  should  require  that  the  manager  have  proper 
systems  of  accounting  and  reporting  installed  and  enforced  and 
that  the  budget  making  should  be  scientific  and  subjected  to 
the  light  of  publicity  at  every  stage.  Such  provisions  will 
make  it  possible  for  the  manager  to  insure  the  greatest 
efficiency  and  at  the  same  time  safeguard  the  public  interest 
where  it  is  most  vitally  affected,  namely,  in  the  treatment  of 
the  city’s  revenues  and  expenditures. 

Of  the  utmost  importance  in  connection  with  the  application 
of  this  plan  of  government  is  the  character  of  the  man  who  is 
chosen  for  the  place  of  city  manager.  The  proper  man  for  so 
important  a place  is  one  who  has  not  merely  executive  abili- 
ty of  the  highest  sort  and  technical  training  in  some  profes- 
sion touching  municipal  affairs,  but  a man  who  has  a broad 
outlook  on  the  larger  problems  of  municipal  government  as  a 
result  of  training,  exeprience  and  reflection,  as  well.  It  is 


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65 


true  that  a majority  of  the  cities  which  have  so  far  adopted  the 
plan  have  chosen  as  manager  an  engineer.  But  it  is  not  to  be 
inferred  therefore  that  engineers  are  peculiarly  endowed  with 
the  important  qualities  we  have  just  mentioned.  Indeed  the 
training  which  engineers  ordinarily  get  in  American  colleges 
ignores  almost  completely  those  very  subjects  which  would 
give  to  the  prospective  city  manager  a knowledge  of  and  sym- 
pathy with  the  large  problems  of  municipal  administration. 
There  is  merely  a financial  advantage  in  haveing  an  engineer 
for  city  manager  in  small  cities  where  the  manager  could  at 
the  same  time  attend  in  person  to  the  duties  of  city  engineer 
and  to  save  the  salary  of  a special  engineer.  But  whenever  the 
general  supervisory  duties  of  the  manager  are  onerous  enough 
to  keep  him  occupied  without  assuming  immediate  charge  of 
any  one  department,  this  advantage  disappears  and  there  is  no 
reason  for  giving  preferance  in  the  choice  of  a manager  to 
engineeirs  merely  because  of  their  profession. 

Finally  it  may  be  proper  to  add  a word  of  warning  with 
regard  to  the  city  manager  plan.  ‘The  most  usual  criticism 
which  is  made  of  the  plan,  namely,  that  it  is  undemocratic 
and  productive  of  one  man  power  is  of  course  utterly  without 
foundation  as  long  as  the  manager  is  chosen  by,  wholly  respon- 
sible to  and  at  any  time  removable  by  the  elective  representatives 
of  the  people.  But  there  is  a danger  that  overemphasis  of  the 
merits  of  the  plan  may  lead  the  people  to  forget  that  no  plan 
of  government  is  so  perfect  that  it  can  be  left  to  run  itself. 
Intelligent  citizen  interest,  participation,  and  supervision  are 
just  as  important  for  the  commission  manager  plan  as  for  any 
other.  If  the  commission  elected  by  the  people  is  continually 
kept  at  the  highest  level  of  honesty  and  dedication  to  the  pub- 
lic welfare  the  commission  manager  plan  is  fraught  with  the 
greatest  promise  for  American  city  government.  If,  however, 
indifference  take  hold  of  the  electorate  and  an  unworthy  com- 
mission be  permitted  to  exercise  the  powers  of  government, 
then  the  commission  manager  plan  will  be  no  better  than  any 
other  that  might  be  mentioned,  in  fact  it  is  conceivable  that  it 
might  even  be  worse.  The  true  formula  therefore  is  not  com- 
mission manager  plan  minus  public  interest  which  is  sure  to 
equal  inefficiency  and  corruption,  the  same  as  would  result 
with  any  other  form;  but  commission  manager  form  plus  in- 
telligent citizen  participation,  which  will  equal  the  maximum  of 
efficiency  attainable  in  any  city  government. 


THE  CITY  OF  THE  FUTURE. 


Homer  Talbot,  Secretary,  League  of  Kansas  Municipalities,  and 
Head  of  the  Municipal  Reference 
Bureau,  University  of 
Kansas. 

The  spirit  of  the  city  of  the  future  will  be  neighborliness. 
The  government  will  be  by  the  people. 

The  spirit  of  a community,  as  in  the  case  of  an  individual,  is 
what  that  locality  or  person  is — and  is  to  be. 

Cities  differ  in  tone,  in  ideals,  in  initiative — in  belief  in 
themselves,  or  disbelief. 

An  interesting  volume  has  been  written  on  the  “Personali- 
ty of  American  Cities.” 

The  Common  comes  to  mind  when  one  thinks  of  Boston — 
and  perhaps  the  Christmas  and  New  Year  celebrations,  bring- 
ing together  the  people  of  .that  old  New  World  city,  making  the 
inhabitant  of  the  Bay  State  metropolis  thrill  with  the  thought 
“Of  no  mean  city”  is  he. 

New  York  spells  commercialism — yes,  but  consider  the 
splendid  school  system,  the  growing  political  independence,  the 
art  galleries  open  to  all,  the  public  library  system  maintained — 
the  community  spirit  is  growing  there,  too. 

Philadelphia  is  a city  betrayed — by  its  “best  citizens.”  The 
town  is  in  the  grip  of  a combine  of  privately  owned  public 
utility  interests,  and  contractors. 

Cleveland,  Ohio  has  been  called  the  best  governed  city  in 
America.  Perhaps  this  is  because  it  has  self-government.  And 
because  Tom  Johnson  and  Newton  Barker,  Peter  Witt  and  a 
host  of  others  have  given  to  the  upbuilding  of  their  municipali- 
ty unselfish  thought  and  affection,  labor  and  courage.  They 
toiled  for  the  common  good — and  their  work  abides. 

Three  cent  street  railway  fare?  Yes.  Three  cent  electricity? 
Yes.  A fair  system  of  taxation  assessments?  Yes.  Provision 
for  wholesome  public  recreation?  Yes.  But  more.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  community  is  under  the  complete  and  continuous 
control  of  the  citizens — and  the  people  of  the  city  know  it. 
It  is  their  government,  their  agency  for  the  common  welfare. 
And  they  realize  it. 

Are  folks  in  Cleveland  proud  of  their  municipality?  One 
does  not  need  to  ask  them. 


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67 


Detroit’s  civic  spirit  is  a matter  of  general  knowledge.  The 
broad  streets,  Belle  Isle  park,  the  city-owned  lighting  plant, 
and  the  contest  for  municipal  street  railways  almost  won — 
these  things  are  famed  throughout  the  nation.  The  fights 
made  by  Haxen  S.  Pingree  and  others  for  the  people  of  De- 
troit were  not  in  vain. 

Denver  is  known  among  other  things  for  its  juvenile  court, 
its  beautiful  park,  its  municipal  auditorium,  and  its  “Welcome” 
and  “Mizpah”  arch  at  the  station.  Symbols  are  these  of  com- 
munity spirit. 

The  Pacific  coast  cities — San  Francisco,  Los  Angeles,  Seat- 
tle, Tacoma,  Portland  and  the  irest — are  indeed  famous  for  their 
municipal  achievements.  Four  features  of  their  accomplishments 
should  be  noticed. 

Municipal  home  rule  has  given  the  individual  localities 
power  to  provide  for  their  own  municipal  governments,  and 
power  to  govern  themselves  locally  in  acordance  with  their  own 
local  needs  and  desires,  subject  to  the  constitution  and  general 
laws  of  their  states. 

Effective  control  of  the  city  governments  by  the  people  has 
been  achieved  through  such  provisions  as  non-partisan  munici- 
pal primaries  and  elections,  simplified  forms  of  governmental 
organization,  and  the  initiative,  referendum  and  recall. 

Municipal  ownership  of  public  utilities  has  resulted  in  bene- 
fits to  the  public  both  in  providing  good  service  and  fair  rates, 
and  in  removing  from  politics  the  pernicious  influence  of  special 
privileged  franchise  interests.  Privately  owned  public  utilities 
allied  with  the  vice  interests  have  proved  themselves  the  two 
big  hindrances  to  good  government  in  American  cities.  The 
greatest  advantage  resulting  from  municipal  ownership  of  pub- 
lic utilities  is  the  gain  in  cleaner  municipal  politics  and  better 
government. 

The  people  of  the  cities  of  the  west  at  least,  are  learning 
this  lesson. 

The  benefits  of  equal  suffrage,  too,  should  not  be  dismissed 
or  discounted.  Women  are  interested  in  home,  the  child,  the 
school,  the  health  department,  parks  and  playgrounds,  police 
protection,  pure  water,  fair  prices  for  electricity  for  use  in  the 
home,  milk  inspection,  and  other  municipal  services. 

It  has  been  observed  both  by  friends  and  enemies  of  clean 
administration  that  women  are  not  only  interested  in  good 
government,  but  they  are  persistent  in  obtaining  it. 


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The  University  of  Oklahoma 

The  people  of  the  west  are  seeing  the  advantages  of  the 
participation  of  men  and  women  alike  in  the  ballot — in  the 
common  government. 

The  splendid  municipal  achievements  of  Kansas  City,  Kans- 
as are  not  unknown.  The  women  as  well  as  the  men  have  the 
vote — women  having  had  the  right  to  take  pa;rt  in  city  elections 
in  Kansas  for  more  than  a quarter  of  a century.  The  local 
government  of  Kansas  City,  Kansas,  is  simple  in  form,  respon- 
sive to  the  will  of  the  people.  The  voters  retain  the  power  to 
initiate  such  ordinances  as  they  may  desire,  not  passed  by  the  city 
commission — but  the  fact  of  the  possession  of  this  power  in 
the  hands  of  the  citizens  renders  the  need  of  its  exercise  rare. 

From  the  municipal  lighting  plant  consumers  are  supplied 
with  electricity  for  residence  lighting  at  six  cents  a kilowatt 
hour,  and  current  for  cooking  and  heating  at  three  cents  a 
kilowatt  hour.  From  the  publicly  owned  waterworks  system 
the  community  is  furnished  with  abundant  clear  wholesome 
water. 

The  city  took  over  and  began  the  improvement  of  the  pri- 
vately owned  waterworks  plant  in  1909.  In  three  years  the 
number  of  deaths  from  typhoid  fever  was  reduced  from  48  to 
15 — and  the  total  cases  of  typhoid  fever  from  325  to  78. 

The  best  and  biggest  and  finest  thing  about  the  chief  city  of 
the  sunflower  state,  however,  is  the  spirit  of  the  community — 
the  spirit  on  the  part  of  the  citizens,  men  and  women  alike,  of 
common  control  of  and  pride  in  their  municipality. 

The  holiday  season  is  approaching — Kansas  towns,  like 
communities  in  many  other  states,  are  planning  municipal 
Chirstmas  trees. 

What  has  this  to  do  with  community  spirit,  and  the  city  of 
the  future?  Much.  The  whole  event  is  symbolical  of  peace 
and  good-will,  of  community  interests — of  neighborliness. 

In  a Kansas  town  of  15,000  people,  a pine  in  a city  park  is 
being  decorated  with  vari-colored  electric  lights,  surmounted 
with  a star.  Christmas  night  the  Mayor,  who  is  chairman  of 
the  community  Christmas  exercises,  will  turn  the  button,  il- 
luminating the  tree. 

The  children  of  the  schools  will  sing  Christmas  carols,  bands 
will  play  appropriate  music,  and  everybody  will  join  in  the  sing- 
ing of  hymns  familiar  to  all. 

Of  such  community  spirit,  democracy  and  neighborliness 
is  to  be  the  city  of  the  future. 


ILLUSTRATED  LECTURE 


“THE  VALUE  OF  PURE  WATER  AND  SANITATION” 

By 

r.  e.  McDonnell, 

Member  of  the  Firm  of 

burns  & McDonnell,  consulting  engineers. 

I want  to  say  just  a few  words  on  the  experience  in  munici- 
pal matters  from  the  stand  point  of  engineers.  We  have  a lit- 
tle different  way  of  looking  at  matters  than  the  ordinary  indi- 
vidual. We  prepare  first  a preliminary  plan  and  report,  we  sub- 
mit it  those  who  employ  us  and  they  criticise  it, 
although  they  are  without  engineering  training  or  knowledge. 
Not  long  ago  in  preparing  a profile  for  the  Board  of  Public 
Works  of  a city,  I submitted  it  for  examination  and  while  they 
were  examining  it  the  telephone  rang  and  I went  to  answer  it, 
and  when  through  using  the  telephone  I found  that  the  Board 
had  examined  the  profile  and  gave  it  their  O.  K.,  and  I discover- 
ed that  they  had  held  it  upside  down  all  the  time  they  were  ex- 
amining it.  After  the  preliminary  report  is  approved  we  then 
go  into  the  preparation  of  detail  drawings,  so  that  when  the 
contracts  are  let  for  the  construction  of  the  utility  we  will 
eliminate  extras  as  far  as  possible.  We  then  render  a final 
.summary  of  the  results. 

In  the  slides  which  will  be  shown  I am  going  to  give  you  an 
outline  of  some  of  the  work  of  eminent  engineers  throughout 
the  country  which  will  give  you  an  idea  of  what  other  muni- 
cipalities are  undertaking.  We  learn  more  from  failures  than 
from  successes.  The  results  of  engineering  work  are  well  illus- 
trated by  the  following  incident:  A young  man  who  had  been 
in  the  west  went  back  to  New  England  and  his  Uncle  in  talking 
with  him  remarked:  ‘You  Westerners  have  a very  funny  way 
of  talking — do  you  out  West  say — A hen  sits  or  sets?  to 
which  the  young  engineer  replied:  ‘We  are  not  concerned  out 
West  with  whether  a hen  sits  or  sets,  but  it  is  the  result  we 
look  for.  We  investigate  and  determine  whether  the  hen  has 
lied  or  laid.’  The  same  is  true  of  engineering  work — the  results 
;are  what  we  are  getting  at. 

We  find  death  rates  of  American  municipalities  are  appall- 


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The  University  of  Oklahoma 


ing  compared  with  what  they  should  be,  one  of  the  chief  reas- 
ons for  this  being  impure  water  and  lack  of  sanitation.  Dr. 
Hasen,  an  eminent  statistician,  has  made  the  statement  that 
sixty-five  per  cent  of  typhoid  is  due  to  impure  drinking  water 
and  the  balance  to  flies  and  impure  milk.  He  also  says  that  for 
every  death  from  typhoid  someone  ought  to  be  hung,  because 
it  is  a preventable  disease.  There  is  no  article  of  food  that  will 
carry  disease  more  readily  than  water,  yet  it  is  the  one  with 
which  we  are  most  careless.  Clear  water  is  not  always  pure. 

Recently  in  doing  some  engineering  work  in  Cleburne,  Tex- 
as, we  found  a very  high  death  rate  from  typhoid,  and  in  towns 
near  there  the  death  rate  was  also  high  from  typhoid.  Peo- 
ple living  in  the  vicinity  of  a sewer  were  visiting  a spring  and 
using  the  water  for  drinking,  and  upon  inquiries  beng  made  it 
was  found  that  the  spring  had  been  furnishing  water  to  the 
people  in  that  vicinity  for  a great  many  years  and  they  had 
been  shipping  the  water  to  other  towns.  We  suggested  that 
an  examination  be  made  of  the  water  in  this  spring  and  it  was 
found  that  it  contained  a large  number  of  bacteria.  Later  we 
learned  that  this  spring  was  fed  from  a break  in  the  sewer. 
These  conditions  prevail  in  a great  many  cities  because  suffici- 
ent attention  is  not  paid  to  municipal  matters  as  regards  pure 
water.  We  should  keep  alert  on  the  problems  that  affect  the 
health  of  the  people — the  public  should  be  educated  as  to  the 
value  of  pure  water  and  sanitation. 

As  an  illustration  to  the  value  of  education  regarding  var- 
ious municipal  utilities,  might  be  mentioned  the  efficient  util- 
ities of  European  cities  and  their  management.  In  a visit  to 
Glasgow,  Scotland,  remembering  that  I had  been  taught  in 
high  school  that  Glasgow  was  the  best  governed  city  in  the 
world,  I was  therefore  interested  in  learning  the  reason  for 
this.  I found  a class  of  boys  fifteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age 
studying  the  operation  of  the  water  plant.  The  following  day 
a different  class  of  younger  boys  were  studying  the  garbage 
incinerator  works;  in  like  manner  the  street  railway  system 
was  studied,  and  also  the  other  utilities  of  the  city.  A little 
boy  riding  on  the  street  car  told  me  all  about  its  operation — * 
municipal  ownership  of  the  city  railway,  where  it  was  extended 
transfer  system,  equipment  and  other  details  of  its  operation. 
He  said  he  was  required  to  pass  an  examination  on  the  utilities 
of  the  City.  When  those  boys  arrived  at  the  voting  age  they 
were  experts  in  every  line  of  the  city’s  activities.  In  Glasgow 


University  of  Oklahoma 


71 


they  are  rearing  a class  of  experts  because  they  are  paying 
close  attention  to  all  these  affairs.  They  have  also  adopted  an 
efficiency  feature  which  we  could  well  copy  in  this  country. 
The  public  through  illustrated  lectures  are  told  about  the 
city’s  needs  and  what  is  being  done  with  the  funds  raised.  In 
the  city  of  Glasgow  I listened  one  night  to  an  address  entitled 
‘The  Cleansing  of  the  Clyde  River.*  This  lecture  was  listened 
to  with  great  interest  by  about  five  thousand  people  and  it 
showed  the  efficiency  with  which  the  engineer  in  charge  of 
this  work  had  conducted  his  department.  He  showed  pictures 
of  the  transformation  of  the  stream  from  a foul  open  sewer 
to  a river  lined  with  house-boats  and  with  water  as  pure  as  the 
average  mountain  stream.  These  educational  features  have  re- 
sulted in  Glasgow’s  being  the  best  governed  city  in  the  world. 

In  the  average  American  city  we  are  inclined  to  let  the  other 
fellow  do  the  work.  We  ought  to  begin  a broads  campaign  of 
education,  beginning  with  the  younger  classes.  This  is  made 
necessary  because  of  the  larger  number  of  people  living  in  our 
cities.  After  my  return  from  Glasgow,  when  telling  one  of  our 
city  councilmen  about  the  school  children’s  being  familiar  with 
the  utilities,  I asked  him  some  questions  about  the  water 
works  in  Kansas  City  and  he  replied  that  he  had  been  in  office 
only  three  years  and  hadn’t  had  an  opportunity  to  visit  the 
water  works  plant,  although  he  is  one  of  the  Water  Committee. 
This  is  a common  example  of  the  inefficiency  we  have  in 
many  of  our  American  cities.  The  efficiency  of  our  American 
cities  is  low  because  we  have  paid  no  attention  to  it  ourselves. 
We  are  not  entitled  to  any  better  government  than  we  have 
obtained. 

We  engineers  are  largely  to  blame  because  we  have  not 
brought  before  the  public  the  details  of  our  investigations.  An 
engineer’s  duty  is  to  follow  the  work  through  to  its  conclusion, 
seeing  that  the  results  are  as  called  for  in  the  plans.  We  have 
allowed  laymen  who  are  unfamiliar  and  inefficient,  to  handle 
engineering  problems  that  we  should  work  out  ourselves. 

As  a result  of  inefficient  work,  one  of  our  cities  was  spending 
something  over  $1,000,000.00  a year  in  cleaning  snow  from 
the  streets.  This  had  begun  to  be  a burdensome  matter  and  it 
was  decided  that  it  be  turned  over  to  some  engineer.  In  that 
municipality  they  have  removed  heavier  snow  falls  and  the 
total  cost  has  been  one-fourth  of  the  former  cost. 

A short  time  ago  I happened  to  be  in  the  city  of  Portland, 


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The  University  of  Oklahoma 


and  knowing  that  my  own  city  was  delinquent  in  the  matter  of 
street  signs,  I observed  that  practically  every  corner  was  fit- 
ted with  beautiful  signs  illuminating  the  business  districts.  I 
learned  that  they  had  a municipal  sign  painter  who  turned  out 
the  nicest  enamel  signs  for  nineteen  cents  each.  He  was  paid 
$3.00  per  day.  This  shows  what  a little  efficient  thought  might 
accomplish.  In  our  city  we  had  been  paying  fifty-one  cents  for 
a sign  not  as  good  as  these. 

In  recent  years  there  has  been  an  awakening  of  the  civic 
conscience,  and  especially  on  sanitary  questions.  We  are  not 
satisfied  with  anything  but  the  best  drinking  water.  In  the 
matter  of  sickness  and  death  rate,  it  pays  to  have  good  water 
and  better  sanitation.  It  pays  any  municipality  to  exercise  the 
closest  care  and  precaution  in  sanitation.  The  following  slides 
will  illustrate  some  of  the  things  that  tend  to  produce  a lower 
death  rate  in  other  cities.  These  slides  will  also  illustrate  the 
different  types  of  water  supplies  that  many  cities  have  installed.. 

First — An  Illustration  of  an  aqueduct  in  Spain  which  is 
over  two  thousand  years  old  and  is  still  used.  The  water  is 
carried  through  an  aqueduct  on  top  of  the  stone  arches. 

Second — An  illustration  of  the  ruins  of  one  of  the  old  Rom- 
and  aqueducts.  This  was  destroyed  several  different  times  and 
rebuilt.  It  has  an  opening  on  the  top. 

Third — One  of  the  notable  water  supplies  at  Birmingham, 
England.  This  is  one  of  the  largest  types  of  artificial  lakes  for 
water  supply.  Many  of  our  American  cities  have  now  resorted 
to  this  type.  We  find  this  to  be  one  of  the  common  methods. 

Fourth— One  of  the  interesting  dams  built  in  this  country 
in  Wyoming.  At  the  time  it  was  built  it  was  the  highest  dam 
in  the  world,  being  318  feet  high.  It  cost  $1,500,000.00  and  was 
built  by  the  Reclamation  Service  near  Cody,  Wyoming. 

Fifth— The  Arrow  Rock  Reservoir  Dam,  the  largest  and 
highest  in  the  world,  recently  finished,  irrigating  something 
over  two  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land.  The  depth  of  water 
when  the  dam  is  filled  will  be  something  like  350  feet  deep.  It 
is  of  the  sold  masonry  type  of  construction,  built  by  the 
Reclamation  Service  near  Boise,  Idaho. 

Sixth — A type  of  dam  collecting  water  for  storage  and  pleas- 
ure purposes;  also  for  power. 

Seventh — Water  supply  of  a Mexican  city,  hauling  water  for 
domestic  uses  in  a cart. 

Eighth — Another  water  works  plant  of  a Mexican  city — 


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73 


carrying  water  in  earthen  jars. 

Ninth — The  original  water  works  of  Oklahoma  City,  Okla- 
homa, taken  about  five  years  ago.  They  have  built  several  ad- 
ditions in  the  last  few  years.  The  Oklahoma  City  water  works 
plant  has  been  changed  in  the  last  few  years,  increasing  the 
efficiency.  This  plant  has  been  extended  and  improved,  so  that 
Oklahoma  City  now  has  a character  of  water  absolutely  safe. 
The  only  question  is  the  quantity;  but  the  character  of  the  water 
ranks  high.  It  is  surprising  that  they  are  able  to  secure  such 
pure  water  from  a source  where  the  raw  water  is  so  impure. 
In  looking  over  the  results  of  an  analysis  it  shows  that  there  are 
an  average  of  approximately  150  bacteria  to  the  cubic  centimeter, 
a reduction  from  a bacteria  count  of  several  thousand  made 
possible  by  the  modern  filtration  system. 

Tenth — An  illustration  of  a portion  of  the  interior  of  the 
filter  house  at  Oklahoma  City.  The  filter  tables  and  controllers 
regulate  and  control  the  rate  of  filtration.  The  filtration  sand 
together  with  the  gravel  used,  removes  the  sediment  and  bac- 
teria that  is  not  removed  by  the  use  of  the  settling  basins. 

Eleventh — This  shows  an  interesting  water  purification 
plant  at  Winfield,  Kansas.  This  municipality  had  two  water 
works  plants — a private  company  and  a municipal  plant.  The 
municipality  installed  a modern  filtration  system,  and  when  the 
citizens  found  that  the  water  from  the  private  plant  had  sev- 
eral thousand  bacteria  per  cubic  centimeter  and  the  muni- 
cipal plant  had  one  hundred  and  fifty,  the  consumers  left  the 
private  plant  and  the  municipal  plant  soon  had  all  the  cus- 
tomers. Over  two  thousand  of  the  citizens  had  visited  the 
plant  within  a month  after  it  was  installed.  Many  delegations 
from  other  cities  have  also  visited  the  plant  because  of  its 
efficiency  and  low  cost  of  operation.  The  filtered  water  shows 
a purification  of  about  99 y2  per  cent. 

Twelfth — The  settling  basin  of  the  Muskogee,  Oklahoma, 
water  system.  They  have  gone  under  the  Arkansas  River  to  the 
Grand  River  for  a water  supply,  securing  a very  satisfactory 
supply  from  that  stream. 

Thirteenth — St.  Louis,  Missouri,  began  agitation  for  a fil- 
tration system  in  1858,  and  it  was  installed  only  last  year.  This 
is  one  of  the  most  modern  filtration  systems  of  any  city  in  the 
world,  and  is  the  largest.  The  filter  house  is  about  1400  feet 
long.  The  water  flows  through  it  by  gravity  and  is  pumped 
into  the  city. 


74 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


Fourteenth — Shows  the  interior  of  the  St.  Louis,  Missouri 
filter  house.  It  is  arranged  to  automatically  care  for  the  rate 
of  filtration  and  chemical  feed,  and  only  two  men  are  re-quired 
to  look  after  its  regulaton,  although  it  is  a plant  of  over 
140,000,000  gallons  capacity. 

Fifteenth — Albany,  New  York,  was  one  of  the  first  Ameri- 
can cities  to  put  in  a filtration  system.  It  took  twelve  men 
to  operate  this  system  of  6,000,000  capacity. 

Sixteenth — A type  of  water  works  plant  in  use  by  the  Chi- 
nese over  four  thousand  years  ago.  This  same  type  of  wheel 
is  now  used  for  lifting  water  from  the  Columbia  River  for  ir- 
rigation. 

Seventeenth — A type  of  Janapese  water  works  system,  the 
whole  family  doing  the  furnishing  of  the  water  where  labor  is 
very  cheap. 

Eighteenth — A type  of  water  tower  in  Brussels;  of  interest 
because  of  the  large  amount  of  money  spent  for  ornamentation, 
the  total  cost  being  approximately  $250,000.00.  It  was  250 
feet  high;  1,000,000  gallons  capacity,  with  a steel  tank  on  top. 
The  outside  is  finished  in  Portland  cement.  It  is  a beautiful 
structure,  having  winding  stairway  and  an  observatory  at  the 
top. 

Nineteenth— Some  of  the  water  towers  of  Antwerp,  Belgium. 
A large  amount  of  ornamental  cut  stone  work  is  used;  and  also 
these  are  used  as  bridge  pier  supports.  These  towers  are  also 
now  used  as  wireless  stations. 

Twentieth — The  water  works  plant  of  Glasgow,  Scotland. 
This,  however,  is  merely  the  storage  reservoir.  Around  it  are 
flower  beds,  and  the  cut  flowers  from  these  beds  are  distributed 
to  the  hospitals  on  Saturday  afternoons. 

Twenty-first — Los  Angeles,  California,  undertook  to  get 
a new  water  supply  and  was  compelled  to  go  238  miles  to  the 
Owens  River.  It  was  a very  difficult  undertaking,  costing  about 
$22,000,000.00.  This  slide  shows  a part  of  the  work  being 
done. 

Twenty-second — The  Los  Angeles,  California,  work  after  the 
water  conduit  had  been  lined  with  concrete.  One  interesting 
feature  of  the  work  was  that  it  was  under  the  direct  respon- 
sibility of  the  City  Engineer  with  five  to  six  thousand  laborers, 
with  supervising  engineering  force  of  about  three  hundred.  This 
work  was  completed  at  less  cost  and  in  less  time  than  the  en- 
gineers estimated. 


University  of  Oklahoma 


75 


Twenty-third — The  Los  Angeles,  California  line  used  as  an 
automobile  highway,  with  12  foot  steel  siphon  lines  placed  over 
the  top  of  the  mountain. 

Twenty-fourth — Interior  arrangement  of  the  general  features 
of  a modern  filtration  system. 

Twenty-fifth — A graphical  comparison  of  the  results  of  fil- 
tration. This  shows  the  water  works  of  Kansas  City,  Kansas 
and  the  Missouri  River  water  below  the  sewer  outlet,  also  Kansas 
City,  Missouri,  drinking  water  with  the  number  of  bacteria  in 
the  water  left  after  treatment. 

Twenty-sixth — This  slide  shows  a drop  of  Oklahoma  City, 
Oklahoma  water  after  filtration,  showing  the  difference  in  the 
raw  and  filtered  water. 

Twenty-seventh — A d:op  of  water  magnified  ten  thousand 
times  with  a bacteria  count  of  about  seventy  thousand  to  the 
cubic  centimeter.  This  illustrates  the  impurity  of  the  raw 
water  of  many  cities. 

Twenty-eighth — A drop  of  water  taken  from  a filtering  ba- 
sin, showing  a reduction  of  bacteria  by  settling  only,  the  set- 
tling basin  removing  about  ninety  per  cent  of  the  impurities. 

Twenty-nineth — Some  ancient  water  works,  including  a 
reservoir  for  storage  cut  in  solid  rock. 

Thirtieth — A type  of  water  supply  that  many  cities  are  in- 
stalling by  the  securing  of  water  from  the  under-flows.  As 
you  all  know,  our  rainfall  finds  its  way  into  the  ground,  so  we 
have  water  under  the  ground  and  by  investigating,  in  many 
cases  a water  supply  could  be  secured  in  this  manner.  Riverside 
California;  South  Bend,  Indiana;  Galveston,  Texas;  Indianapo- 
lis, and  many  other  of  our  large  cities  secure  their  water  supply 
from  wells.  The  particular  well  shown  he>re  was  at  Plainview. 
Texas,  reported  the  largest  well  water  supply  in  the  world, 
yielding  as  high  as  three  thousand  gallons  per  minute. 

During  the  flood  of  1903  in  Kansas  City  the  water  plant 
was  under  water  and  out  of  commission  for  fourteen  days.  As 
a result  the  cases  of  typhoid  jumped  from  the  normal  rate  to 
five  times  the  number  and  it  took  this  city  five  years  to  get  back 
to  normal.  All  the  water  is  pumped  three  times,  and  some  of 
it  four  times  to  reach  the  various  elevations. 

A city  must  anticipate  its  future  water  works  needs.  Kans- 
City  purchased  its  water  works  plant  in  1896.  The  volume  of 
water  used  at  that  time  was  four  billion  gallons  per  year;  in  1913 
twelve  billion  gallons  per  year.  At  the  same  rate,  in  1920  it 


76 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 

will  be  over  fifteen  billion  gallons. 

Thirty-first — An  illustration  of  the  revenues;  Gross  re- 
ceipts in  1896— $397,000.00;  1913— $1,100,000.00;  at  the  same 
rate  in  1920  the  gross  receipts  will  be  $1,560,000.00.  This  year 
paid  off  the  last  of  the  purchase  bonds  voted  in  1896. 

So  often  we  hear  that  municipal  plants  lack  management 
and  efficiency.  In  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  about  midnight  one  night 
three  years  ago,  a thirty-inch  water  main  adjacent  to  a broken 
sewer, -broke  and  the  sewage  flowed  into  the  water  main.  All 
the  water  users  were  notified  by  use  of  messengers  and  four 
hundred  officials  on  motor  cycles.  As  a result  of  this  efficiency 
not  a single  case  of  typhoid  developed. 

Thirty-second — Fire  Department  of  one  of  the  Canadian 
cities,  of  a few  years  ago. 

Thirty-third — Modern  equiptment  of  Canadian  cities.  In 
Canada  something  like  twenty  cities  own  and  operate  their 
own  street  railway  systems,  and  particularly  all  own  and  oper- 
ate their  water  and  lighting  plants. 

You  have  all  heard  of  the  new  water  supply  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, of  interest  because  of  its  being  one  of  the  largest  in  the 
world  now  under  course  of  construction.  San  Francisco  has 
been  fighting  for  municipal  ownership  of  water  works  for 
something  like  thirty  years,  and  they  now  are  securing  their 
new  wafer  supply  from  the  Sierras.  They  propose  building 
reservoirs  near  the  Yosemite  Valley,  the  depth  of  water  in  the 
reservoirs  being  about  250  feet.  They  are  taking  the  water 
through  tunnels,  developing  over  two  hundred  thousand  horse- 
power along  the  line.  The  estimated  cost  is  $58,500,000.00. 
They  engaged  a Consulting  Engineer  to  investigate  all  avail- 
able supplies,  at  a salary  of  $200.00  per  day  and  expenses,  in- 
cluding assistants,  and  part  of  the  time  as  high  as  eighty  as- 
sistants were  employed.  $360,000.00  was  paid  for  the  engin- 
eering reports  alone.  The  reports  were  then  turned  over  to  a 
board  of  three  engineers  for  their  examination  and  checking. 
After  three  months’  work  the  Board  of  engineers  reported 
being  unable  to  find  a single  flaw  or  defect  in  the  report. 

The  two  following  slides  illustrate  other  views  and  methods 
of  beautifying  the  water  works  reservoirs.  This  idea  of 
beautifying  public  utilities  is  a movement  that  should  be  en- 
couraged. 

This  last  slide  graphically  shows  the  value  of  good  pure 
water,  illustrated  by  the  experience  in  the  City  of  Cincinnati, 


University  of  Oklahoma 


77 


Ohio,  where  the  water  is  aken  from  the  river,  and  is  purified  by 
settling  basins  and  a complete  filtration  system.  The  city 
officials  and  the  State  Board  of  Health  Officials  compiled  very 
good  records  of  the  health  conditions  for  several  years  previous 
to  the  installation  of  the  filtration  system,  thereby  giving  an 
excellent  example  of  the  conditions  previous  to  the  filter  in- 
installation.  The  results  show  that  in  the  three  year  period  pre- 
vious to  fdtering  the  water  there  were  in  Cincinnati  4332  cases 
of  typhoid  fever,  and  in  the  three  year  period  following  the  filter 
installation  the  number  of  cases  of  typhoid  was  reduced  to  336. 
In  the  three  year  period  previous  to  filtering  the  water,  664 
deaths  resulted  from  the  total  number  of  cases  of  typhoid,  and 
in  the  three  year  period  following  the  installation  of  the  filter- 
ing plant,  the  number  of  deaths  from  typhoid  were  reduced  to 
133.  There  was  the  same  marked  reduction  in  deaths  from 
other  water  borne  diseases.  In  the  three  year  period  previous 
to  filtration  of  the  water  there  was  a total  of  1227  deaths  at- 
tributed to  the  impure  water  supply,  and  in  the  three  years  fol- 
lowing filtration  this  number  was  reduced  to  379,  or  in  other 
words  a saving  of  848  lives  by  the  installation  of  a pure  water 
supply.  The  results  obtained  in  Cincinnati  clearly  show  the 
value  of  Pure  Water  and  Sanitation,  and  what  can  be  accom- 
plished by  Cincinnati  can  be  accomplished  by  hundreds  of 
other  cities  through  the  installation  of  a supply  of  Pure  Water, 
either  by  filtration  or  the  securing  of  an  unpolluted  source 
of  supply. 

The  excellent  results  here  shown  clearly  indicate  that  it  is 
a very  important  matter  to  carry  on  a broad  campaign  of  ed- 
nucation  showing  the 

“VALUE  OF  PURE  WATER  AND  SANITATION.” 


MUNICIPAL  REGULATION  OF  VICE 


Professor  Jerome  Dowd,  Head  of  the  Department  of  Sociology 
and  Economics,  University  of  Oklahoma. 

The  social  evil  in  the  city  is  perhaps  the  worst  municipal 
problem.  Away  back  in  ancient  times  the  Greeks  were  troub- 
led with  this  vice,  and  established  licensed  houses  of  prostitu- 
tion. And  the  revenue  from  this  source  went  into  the  coffers 
of  the  state. 

Through  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  Renaissance  in  Europe,  it 
was  the  general  policy  to  recognize  this  evil  as  necessary,  and 
to  provide  women  for  the  various  houses  of  vice  that  were 
established  in  the  cities.  The  revenues  of  these  went  into  the 
treasury,  and  in  some  cases  to  the  universities. 

On  account  of  that  traditional  policy  there  has  grown  up 
in  Europe  what  is  known  as  the  continental  method  of  dealing 
with  this  vice.  This  consists  of:  first,  registration  of  all  women 
who  are  leading  a wayward  life,  either  in  institutions  where 
known,  or  plying  on  the  streets;  second,  periodical  examina- 
tion from  a medical  point  of  view.  In  France  it  is  the  gen- 
eral custom  for  all  women  who  occupy  public  houses  to  sub- 
mit to  examination  weekly,  and  for  all  other  women  who  are 
registered  and  ply  on  the  streets,  to  submit  to  examination 
fortnightly.  I will  say  that  this  method  has  been  very  thoro- 
ughly tested  and  investigated,  and  so  far  as  we  can  judge  it 
has  not  diminished  the  amount  of  the  evil  in  the  least,  and  the 
medical  examination  has  not  diminished  the  amount  of  vener-. 
eal  disease.  For  that  reason  it  would  not  appeal  to  people  on 
this  side. 

In  America  there  has  never  been  any  definite  plan  applied 
to  this  evil.  The  law  makes  prostitution  a crime  and  forbids 
absolutely  the  existance  of  any  house  of  ill-fame.  But  as  a 
matter  of  fact  the  law  is  a dead-letter.  This  evil  is  known  to 
exist,  and  is  tolerated  by  the  police. 

At  one  time  in  New  York  city  we  find  the  houses  of  ill- 
fame  concentrated  on  27th  street.  Again  the  prostitutes  are 
driven  out  and  scattered  over  the  city  in  obedience  to  a popu- 


University  of  Oklahoma 


79 


lar  uprising.  The  policeman  soon  locates  them  again,  and  he 
says  to  himself:  “There  is  no  use  in  driving  these  people  from 
one  quarter  to  another.  I will  let  them  alone,  provided  they 
pay  me  so  much  per  month.”  So  he  collects  from  each  house 
in  his  district  a sort  of  tax,  better  known  as  hush  money.  A 
recent  investigation  in  New  York  City  brought  out  the  fact 
that  one  house  had  paid  a policeman  $500.00  to  start,  and  $50.00 
a month  thereafter,  for  the  privilege  of  being  let  alone. 

I suppose  all  of  you  are  familiar  with  the  Becker  case  in 
New  York  City,  where  the  police  had  been  collecting  black- 
mail from  Rosenthal.  Fearing  that  he  might  carry  out  his 
threats  of  exposure,  police  inspector  Becker  hired  gunmen  to 
kill  him,  and  the  gunmen  were  executed,  and  finally  Mr.  Beck- 
er. 

Opinions  differ  as  to  the  best  methods  of  dealing  with  this 
problem.  Some  advocate  concentration  of  the  evil  so  that  the 
police  may  better  control  it,  and  that  depraved  women  may  be 
kept  separated  from  the  respectable  class.  Others  favor  the 
policy  of  scattering  these  prostitutes  over  the  city  and  only  re- 
quiring them  to  be  unobstrusive  in  their  conduct.  In  other 
words,  allow  them  to  locate  where  they  please  so  long  they 
do  not  become  a nuisance,  do  not  offend  the  public  by  a too 
open  exhibition  of  their  life. 

The  conditions  in  New  York  have  been  exceptionally  bad 
for  the  last  several  years.  In  1900  one  police  district  about  a 
mile  square  had  forty  houses  of  ill-fame  within  its  area.  In 
the  same  precinct  there  were  some  sixty  well-known  centers 
of  prostitution  in  tenement  houses.  The  employes  of  the  houses 
openly  cried  their  wares  upon  the  street  and  children  of  the 
rneighborhood  were  given  pennies  and  candy  to  distribute  the 
cards  of  the  prostitutes.  TheCommittee  of  Fifteen  in  1901 
presented  certain  statistics  before  a state  legislative  committee 
showing  that  there  were  125  tenement  houses  in  New  York 
City  in  which  prostitutes  lived  and  carried  on  their  trade. 

As  a result  of  the  exposure  made  by  the  Committee  of  Fif- 
teen, a law  was  enacted  which  resulted  in  purging  many  tenement 
houses  of  their  ocupants;  and  several  policeman  and  keepers 
of  disorderly  houses  were  convicted  and  sent  to  the  penitenti- 
ary. 

A few  years  later  there  developed  in  New  York  a new  mani- 
festation of  the  social  evil  in  New  York,  which  has  made  it 
much  worse  than  ever  before.  This  new  phase  of  the  evil  has 


80 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


grown  out  of  a liquor  law  passed  by  the  state  legislature 
known  as  the  Raines  Law.  It  declared  that  all  saloons  should 
be  closed  on  Sunday,  but  that  hotels  were  exempted.  They 
could  sell  liquor  to  their  guests.  What  was  the  result?  Many 
saloons  rented  a few  extra  rooms,  called  themselves  hotels, 
and  proceeded  to  open  and  sell  on  Sunday.  And  worst  of  all, 
most  of  them  have  become  houses  of  ill-fame. 

Low  class  hotels  used  by  street  walkers  have  always  ex- 
isted more  or  less  in  New  York,  but  they  were  confined  to  a 
limited  area  and  the  street  walkers  were  confined  to  this  same 
area.  Prostitutes  would  seldom  be  seen  in  any  other  part  of 
the  city.  But  by  the  Raines  law,  hotels  were  scattered  all 
over  the  city,  furnished  convenient  places  of  accomodation  for 
street  walkers,  and  enabled  them  to  flourish  in  all  parts  of  the 
city.  So  convenient  were  these  hotels  that  a street  walker 
could  make  any  part  of  the  city  she  chose,  the  scene  of  her 
operations.  As  a result  solicitation  became  more  general  in 
New  York  than  in  any  other  American  city. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  how  these  hotels  have  become  the 
resorts  for  prostitutes.  1 There  is  no  legitimate  demand  for 
these  hotels,  and  so  the  proprietor  has  the  choice  of  paying 
rent  for  vacant  rooms  or  renting  them  for  immoral  purposes. 

The  question  is  whether  the  existence  of  the  Raines-law- 
hotel  makes  vice  any  greater;  that  is,  than  it  would  be  under 
other  conditions?  If  these  hotels  were  abolished  would  not 
the  same  amount  of  vice  be  maintained  in  a different  form? 
The  Committee  of  Fifteen  thinks  that  these  so-called  hotels 
greatly  aggravate  the  amount  of  vice. 

They  say  that  a certain  number  of  people  will  naturally  seek 
vice  under  any  circumstances,  but  that  there  are  others  who  are 
not  ordinarily  attracted  to  vice  and  would  not  indulge  in  it  but 
for  certain  amusements  and  attractions  which  act  as  a decoy. 

Certain  young  men  in  New  York  City  known  as  cadets 
make  a profession  of  enticing  girls  into  these  Raines-law- 
hotels.  One  year,  six  cadets  were  sent  to  the  state 
prison  for  abducting  girls  under  age  of  eighteen  years. 

Now  in  answer  to  the  question  ‘What  is  to  be  done  about 
this  evil?’  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  in  its  report  on  the  social 
evil  consideres  first  the  advisability  of  adopting  the  French- 
German  system  of  registering  and  sanitary  inspection.  The 
committee  objects  to  the  foreign  system  both  upon  moral 
grounds  and  upon  the  ground  of  the  difficulty  in  enforcing 


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such  a system  in  America. 

The  first  difficulty  in  America  would  be  to  decide  what 
women  should  be  registered.  In  France  and  Germany  the  po- 
lice have  absolute  direction  in  such  a matter,  and  there  is  no 
appeal  from  their  decision.  In  America  where  our  Constitu- 
tion and  laws  do  not  allow  the  individual  to  be  interfered  with 
without  trial  and  evidence,  the  case  would  be  different.  If  a 
woman  denied  her  profession,  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to 
secure  a witness. 

In  France  a policeman  seeing  a woman  lingering  upon  the 
sidewalk  would  feel  justified  in  arresting  her  if  she  were  not 
already  a registered  professional.  But  in  America  where  women 
have  more  freedom  and  the  purest  women  and  girls  do  not 
hesitate  to  go  upon  the  streets  alone,  any  such  suspicions  on  the 
part  of  the -police  would  result  in  public  indignation  and  prob- 
ably in  mobbing  the  policeman. 

The  Committee  then  proceeds  to  make  the  following  reco~ 
mmendations: 

1.  This  vice  should  be  hidden  from  view  as  much  as  possi- 
ble. Solicitation  upon  the  street  and  in  public  places  should 
be  restrained;  haunts  of  vice  should  be  compelled  to  assume  the 
appearance  of  decency;  in  short,  eveiry  method  of  conspicuous 
advertising  of  vice  should  be  done  away  with.  It  is  far  better 
that  prostitutes  should  be  clandestine  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name, 
than  that  they  should  appear  in  their  true  colors. 

2.  Unattended  women  should  not  be  allowed  in  public 
places  where  liquor  is  sold.  Should  a saloon  keeper  admit  such 
women  his  license  should  be  revoked. 

3.  The  dancing  hall  or  music  hall  which  lends  itself  to  vice 
should  be  abolished  as  a nuisance. 

4.  Houses  which  become  obtrusively  immoral  should  be 
forced  to  close.  The  testimony  of  two  aggrieved  neighbors 
ought  to  be  sufficient. 

5.  Growing  children  should  be  kept  free  from  contact  with 
professional  vice.  No  child  over  three  years  of  age  should  be 
permitted  in  a house  where  prostitution  is  carried  on. 

6.  There  should  be  an  extension  of  the  years  of  education 
for  children  whose  parents  or  guardians  cannot  show  that  they 
are  engaged  in  a satisfactory  employment  or  properly  cared  for 
in  their  homes.  The  child  who  is  left  to  pursue  its  own  in- 
clinations is  usually  the  easiest  pray  to  evil  approaches. 

7.  Reformatories  or  asylums  should  be  established  for 


82  The  University  of  Oklahoma 

children  who  have  taken  to  a vicious  life. 

A Prussian  law  of  July,  1900,  presents  the  first  systematic 
attempt  to  grapple  with  this  problem.  By  the  provision  of  the 
law,  girls  under  sixteen  who  are  found  to  be  living  a vicious 
life,  or  who  fall  into  evil  company  so  that  they  are  in  danger 
of  being  led  into  immorality,  may  be  placed  in  institutions  or  un- 
der the  charge  of  parties  who  will  be  responsible  foir  their  con- 
duct. If  necessary,  they  may  be  kept  under  guardianship  until 
their  twenty-first  year  This  law  represents  the  concensus  of 
opinion  of  the  most  profound  students  of  the  social  evil. 

8.__Public  dispensaries  should  be  established  for  the  pur- 
pose of  treating  venereal  maladies;  and  for  those  who  would 
hesitate  to  resort  to  the  dispensary,  private  physicians  in 
each  quarter  of  the  town  should  be  authorized  to  treat  cases 
upon  application,  and  to  be  paid  by  the  city. 

9.  In  order  to  prevent  the  transmission  of  disease  to  in- 
nocent parties,  no  marriage  license  should  be  issued  without 
a certificate  from  a physician  showing  the  present  state  of 
health  of  the  contracting  parites. 

I will  state  that  the  reason  for  recommending  the  medical 
treatment  free  is  that  there  is  a surprising  amount  of  ven- 
ereal disease  among  married  women,  who  have  been  infected 
by  their  husbands  and  other  means,  that  in  no  way'  involves 
their  moral  status.  It  is  to  protect  the  children  also  that 
this  is  recommended. 

10.  A special  class  of  police  should  be  provided  for,  deal- 
ing with  the  social  evil.  This  will  stop  the  blackmail  of  the 
regular  police. 

11.  Strenuous  efforts  should  be  made  to  prevent  the  over- 
crowding of  tenement  houses.  This  overcrowding  is  a pro- 
lific source  of  evil. 

12.  The  furnishing,  by  police  provision  or  private  mu- 
nificence, of  purer  and  more  elevating  forms  of  amusement  to 
supplant  the  attractions  of  the  low  dancing  halls,  theatres,  and 
other  similar  places  of  entertainment  that  may  serve  to  stimu- 
late sensuality  and  to  debase  the  taste.  The  pleasures  of 
the  people  need  to  be  looked  after  far  more  earnestly  than 
has  been  the  case  heretofore.  If  we  would  banish  the  kind  of 
amusements  that  degrade,  we  must  offer  to  the  public  in  this 
large  cosmopolitan  city,  where  the  appetite  for  pleasure  is 
keen,  some  sort  of  suitable  alternatives. 

13.  Improvement  in  the  economic  condition  of  wage-earn- 


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in g women.  It  is  a sad  and  humiliating  admission  to  make, 
at  the  opening  of  the  Twentieth  Century,  in  one  of  the  great- 
est centers  of  civilization  in  the  world,  that  in  numerous  in- 
stances it  is  not  passion  or  corrupt  inclination,  but  the  force 
of  actual  physical  want,  that  impels  young  women  along  the 
road  to  ruin. 

14.  Better  system  of  moral  education.  Children  should  be 
informed  of  the  consequences  of  wild  oats.  It  is  unfortunate 
that  this  has  been  a forbidden  topic.  They  should  also  be 
taught  that  self  restraint,  personal  purity,  and  respect  for 
women  are  among  the  surest  foundations  of  good  character. 

15.  And  this  is  the  most  remarkable  recommendation  of 
all,  The  Committee  recommends  a change  in  the  attitude  of 
the  law  towards  this  evil.  As  it  stands  at  present  the  law  re- 
gards prostitution  as  a crime.  The  proposition  is  to  exclude 
prostitution  from  the  caegory  of  crime.  A law  on  the  statute 
books  tfat  cannot  be  enforced  is  a whip  in  the  hands  of  the 
blackmailers.  Corruption  in  the  police  force  can  never  be 
done  away  with  until  this  prolific  source  of  it  is  stopped.  Pros- 
titutes must  be  driven  out  of  tenement  and  apartment  houses; 
must  be  rigidly  excluded  from  the  homes  of  the  poor.  The 
result  of  the  adoption  of  this  policy  will  be,  indeed,  the  con- 
tiual  existance  of  houses  of  ill-fame,  partly  in  streets  formerly 
residential  and  deserted  by  the  better  class  of  occupants, 
partly  scattered  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  great  thorough- 
fare, and  elsewhere,  and  these  will  remain  undisturbed  under  the 
condition  that  they  remain  unobtrusive. 

Many  of  these  recommendations  are  commendable  and 
ought  to  be  adopted.  However,  the  last  one,  that  prostitu- 
tion be  eraced  from  the  catalogue  of  crimes,  is  of  very  doubt- 
ful merit.  There  are  serious  objections  to  it,  both  from  the 
standpoint  of  morals  and  from  the  standpoint  of  expediency. 
If  this  evil  ceases  to  be  regarded  as  a crime  the  effect  would 
be  very  demoralizing  upon  a large  class  of  people.  Ceasing 
to  become  a crime,  it  would  soon  cease  to  be  an  offense.  Vi- 
cious women  would  be  privileged  to  live  where  they  pleased, 
mixing  with  all  classes  of  people,  in  private  boarding  houses, 
in  hotels,  tenements  and  everywhere.  As  they  commit  no 
offense  against  the  law,  the  public  would  soon  become  tol- 
erant of  them.  So  long  as  they  appear  outwardly  respectable, 
no  objection  could  be  raised  to  their  presence  in  any  so- 
ciety. The  fact  would  soon  be  realized  that  the  vicious  class 


84  The  University  of  Oklahoma 

could  enjoy  just  as  many  social  privileges  as  those  of  good 
repute.  A woman  of  weak  character  would  argue  that  in 
adopting  the  vicious  life,  she  would  not  lose  her  social  po- 
sition. She  could  still  enjoy  the  society  of  respectable  people 
if  only  guarded  against  publicity.  Even  if  her  acquaintances 
knew  her  life  to  be  impure,  she  would  still  be  treated  with 
consideration  and  suffer  no  ostracism.  The  presence  of  a large 
class  of  women  mixed  up  thus  socially  with  the  respectable 
population  would  influence  for  evil,  thousands  of  both  sexes 
who  otherwise  would  not  come  in  contact  with  such  evil.  The 
whle  moral  sentiment  of  the  public  respecting  this  evil  ould 
become  obtuse  and  corrupt;  perhaps  lead  to  a worse  state 
of  things  that  has  ever  yet  existed. 

The  Committee  of  Fifteen  would  seek  to  keep  th^se  women 
from  public  places  when  unaccompanied  by  gentlemen,  but 
if  the  evil  ceased  to  be  a crime,  the  police  would  certainly  be- 
come less  inclined  to  interfere  with  it. 

A condition  of  things  would  come  about  such  as  now  ex- 
ists in  France.  Prostitutes  would  have  the  freedom  of  the 
city  and  be  so  indiscriminately  mingled  with  all  classes  that  the 
evil  would  cease  to  be  a public  offense.  If  the  vicious  class 
dressed  in  the  fashion  and  had  decent  manners  they  would  be 
tolerated  in  every  stratum  of  society.  In  this  wa}^  the  whole 
population  would  become  familiar  with  the  life  of  vice.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  keep  evil  hidden  from  the  eyes  and  ears 
of  young  children.  When  we  consider  the  impression  of  the 
vicious  class  upon  others  by  their  example,  their  conversation, 
and  the  class  of  literature  which  they  would  bring  into 
homes,  we  can  see  that  the  scattering  of  this  class  among  re- 
spectable people  would  result  in  the  gradual  undermining  of 
the  morals  of  the  entire  population. 

The  French  taste  for  risque  literature  and  the  vulgarity  of 
their  conversation  are  largely  due  to  the  presence  of  a vicious 
class  scattered  all  aver  the  city  in  all  localities,  at  all  enter- 
tainments. 

It  seems  to  me  that  if  the  streams  of  life  are  to  be  kept 
pure  there  must  be  a separation  of  the  corrupt  from  the  in- 
corrupt classes.  These  must  be  a moral  quarantine.  To  allow 
the  morally  depraved  to  fningle  indiscriminately  with  the 
population  would  be  as  unwise  as  to  allow  persons  infected 
with  smallpox  or  any  other  contagious  disease  to  go  abroad 
and  make  it  an  epidemic.  Wherever  there  is  secrecy  there  is 


85 


University  of  Oklahoma 

danger.  Public  morals  are  not  safe  so  long  as  vice  is  allowed 
to  be  scattered  abroad.  Confusion  in  this  matter  is  fatal. 
Erase  prostitution  from  the  list  of  crime  and  in  a few  yars 
we  cannot  go  to  any  public  place  with  any  assurance  that  a 
prostitute  is  not  at  our  elbow.  This  evil  should  remain  on 
the  statute  books  as  a crime,  and  the  social  penalty  should 
be  ostracism  from  respectable  society.  When  public  senti- 
ment does  not  demand  ostracism  it  is  a sign  that  public  senti- 
ment is  ceasing  to  regard  that  phenomenon  as  immoral. 

The  recommendation  of  the  committee  of  fifteen  that  all 
vicious  children  under  eighteen  be  sent  to  an  asylum  or  placed 
under  a guardian,  is  a good  one.  This  policy  might  be  applied 
to  both  sexes  and  the  age  limit  raised  to  twenty. 

In  conclusion,  in  the  last  few  years  we  have  had  a most 
extraordinary  amount  of  interest  in  this  subject  of  vice  in 
cities,  and  a vast  amount  of  literature  on  the  subject.  Many 
cities  have  had  investigations.  We  have  known  that  there  is 
an  organization  with  a large  amount  of  capital,  engaged  in  what 
is  known  as  the  white  slave  :rade,  and  we  have  appointed 
committees  to  investigate  this,  and  we  have  their  reports  and 
we  have  books  written  by  men  who  have  made  a special  study 
of  the  subject,  but  after  all,  we  have  received  hardly  more 
in  the  way  of  suggestion  as  to  how  to  deal  with  it  than  we 
already  knew. 

One  hopeful  thing  is  the  very  fact  that  the  maintainance  of 
this  vice  necessitates  organization  and  capital.  This  is  evi- 
dence of  the  fact  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  get  recruits  in  large 
cities.  The  improved  opportunity  of  women  to  earn  a living 
and  better  wages  and  shorter  hours  have  made  it  difficult 
to  fill  up  the  houses  in  large  cities  and  keep  up  the  demand. 

We  have  a national  law  on  this  subject  that  is  very  good 
to  this  effect:  that  any  individual  who  is  instrumental  in  bring- 
ing about  the  downfall  of  an  immigrant  girl  within  three 
years  after  her  arrival  is  subject  to  a penitentiary  sentence  as  a 
violator  of  national  law. 

May  McCain  was  an  immigrant  girl  who  landed  in  New 
York  City  with  thirty  cents.  However  she  got  employment 
on  the  East  side  and  when  the  great  catastrophe  of  the  burn- 
ing of  the  Slocum  occurred  she  was  working  next  to  the 
burning  ship  and  she  jumped  in  and  swam  out  and  brought 
in  a child,  and  went  back  and  brought  in  another,  and  finally 
she  made  thirteen  trips  and  rescued  thirteen  children.  She 


86 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


was,  of  course,  in  all  the  newspapers  and  received  a medal 
from  the  Carnegie  Hero  Foundation,  and  was  invited  by 
President  Roosevelt  to  come  and  take  dinner  w;th  him. 

Some  years  after  that,  Miss  Barrett,  who  has  charge  of  the 
Crittenden  Rescue  Homes,  was  interested  in  having  the 
three  year  limit  removed,  and  Congress  passed  a bill  to  do  chat. 
Miss  Barrett  went  to  see  the  President  and  urged  him  to  sign 
the  bill  because  it  was  becoming  so  difficult  to  find  recruits 
that  they  were  looking  out  for  immigrants,  so  she  urged  Pres- 
ident Roosevelt  to  sign  the  bill.  He  was  rather  impatient  and 
said  that  he  had  many  bills  to  sign.  She  was  insistent  and  he 
became  irritated.  Finally  she  said:‘Do  you  remember  May 
McCain?’  And  he  said:  ‘Yes,  of  course  I remember  her.’  She 
asked:  ‘Do  you  know  where  she  is  now?’  And  he  said:  ‘No.’ 
And  she  told  him:  ‘She  is  in  my  rescue  home.’  So  President 
Roosevelt  immediately  signed  the  bill. 

To  sum  up  my  views:  I believe  in  supressing  prostitution. 
I think  it  is  possible  to  suppress  it.  I think  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  city  administration  to  suppress  it.  Every  other  solution 
has  failed.  Separation  has  failed.  Scattering  has  failed.  There 
is  no  solution  but  to  execute  the  law,  and  it  is  possible  to  do 
that.  It  is  just  as  possible  to  have  a clean  city  morally  as  from 
a sanitary  point  of  view  to  have  competent  health  officers  and 
competent  police  who  are  incorruptible. 

Second:  When  the  city  administration  has  done  its  duty 
there  will  remain  a large  amount  of  social  evil  clandestinely. 
To  avoid  this,  many  social  reforms  will  have  to  be  made.  One 
thing  we  can  do  is  to  segregate  the  feeble-minded.  I think 
it  is  a fact  that  twm-thirds  of  the  prostitutes  are  feeble-minded 
women,  and  if  we  could  segregate  them  not  only  would  the 
social  evil  be  largely  abolished,  but  all  insanity  and  crime 
would  in  a large  measure  be  eliminated. 

Another  thing  is  to  have  more  practical,  particularly  in- 
dustrial vocational,  education  for  young  boys  and  girls.  Pro- 
wide  more  wholesome  places  of  amusement  under  proper  sup- 
ervision for  young  people. 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSION  ON  VICE  LEGISLATION 
IN  OKLAHOMA  CITIES 

Dr.  Dowd,  Chairman. 

Question:  I would  like  to  ask  a question  with  reference 
to  your  suggestion  for  the  segregating  of  the  feeble  minded. 
What  plan  would  be  used? 

Answer:  I will  answer  that  this  way:  At  the  present  time 
in  the  United  States,  with  the  exception  perhaps  of  Massachu- 
setts, we  have  no  method  of  segregating  the  feeble-minded. 
The  boys  and  girls  run  at  large  and  fill  up  our  houses  with 
their  kind.  We  have  no  way  of  segregating  them.  Now  two 
or  three  years  ago  when  the  question  of  degeneracy  was  agita- 
ting the  British  people  a committee  was  appointed  by  Par- 
liament to  investigate  the  feeble  minded.  The  committee 
recommended  a national  commission  or  board  having 
control  of  the  feeble-minded.  In  co-operation  there  should  be 
several  officers  in  each  county,  to  co-operate  with  the  national 
board.  It  was  the  duty  of  this  local  board  to  find  out  who  were 
the  feeble  minded,  and  to  place  them  under  guardians.  When  they 
reached  the  age  of  puberty  they  were  to  be  sent  to  a colony  and 
separated  from  society.  For  the  adult  feeble  minded  the  commit- 
tee recommended  various  institutions,  like  the  colony  in  Massa- 
chusetts, where  the  adult  men  work  on  the  farm  and  have  various 
occupations,  and  in  a way  maintain  themselves.  At  the  same 
time  they  are  so  separated  that  it  is  impossible  for  them  to 
reproduce.  I think  this  is  the  most  important  question  of  all: 
to  prevent  the  propagation  of  the  feeble  minded.  A large 
amount  of  our  taxes  goes  to  look  after  these  people.  It  takes 
about  as  much  money  to  run  our  asylums  as  it  does  to  run 
the  University. 

Question:  Have  you  any  statistics  as  to  the  prevalency  of 
the  feeble  minded? 

Answer:  Yes,  sir.  We  have  none  as  a whole  for  the 

United  States,  but  we  have  them  in  various  localities.  In  Cal- 
ifornia an  investigation  of  the  public  schools  was  made,  and  it 
was  found  that  over  five  per  cent,  were  feeble  minded. 

Question:  Isn’t  it  a matter  of  fact,  though,  that  these 


88  The  University  of  Oklahoma 

schools  who  take  only  feeble  minded  have  made  wonderful 
progress? 

Answer:  Yes,  sir,  a great  many  feeble  minded  people  live 
happy  lives,  but  they  should  not  be  turned  loose. 

Question:  Ought  there  not  to  be  special  institutions  pro- 
vided by  the  state? 

Answer:  Yes,  sir. 

Question:  I was  going  to  ask  you  if  these  feeble  minded 
women  to  whom  you  refer  as  constituting  the  great  ranks  of 
the  prostitutes  are  feeble  minded,  or  are  they  simply 
weak  minded?  Are  they  feeble  minded  in  a medical  sense? 

Answer:  No,  they  are  mentally  defective.  They  are  the 
result  of  hereditary  feeble  mindedness.  There  is  no  legal  defi- 
nition of  feeble-mindedness. 

We  have  in  our  Zoology  room  a very  interesting  illustra- 
tion of  the  Mendelian  theory  of  the  working  of  heridity, 
suggested  by  this  subject  of  feeble-mindedness. 

Feeble  minded  people  are  the  result  of  feeble  minded  mar- 
riages. 


THE  FORCE  AND  VALUE  OF  THE  “HOME  RULE 
CLAUSE”  IN  THE  OKLAHOMA  CONSTITUTION 

Hon.  S.  J.  McElhoes,  Lawton. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen. 

Evidently  those  making  this  program  wanted  the  people 
of  our  cities  to  know  that  there  was  in  our  Constitution  a 
'Home  Rule  Clause,’  or  a clause  which  granted  to  cert;; hi  cities 
the  power  of  Home  R.ule.  And  they  evidentally  wanted  to  go 
further  and  to  impress  upon  those  interested  in  municipal 
affairs,  that  this  Home  Rule  Clause  in  our  Constitution  had 
force,  and  also  had  value,  and  the  object  of  this  discussion  was 
no  doubt  to  bring  out  and  present,  if  possible,  the  matter  in 
such  a way  that  we  might  see  the  force  and  value  of  this 
clause.  Such  a discussion  could  hardly  be  rhetorical  and  much 
less  oratorical.  Necessarily,  a discussion  of  this  subject  is  in  a 
very  large  measure  a legal  one.  Municipal  matters  are  largely 
legal  in  every  way. 

It  has  been  repeatedly  held  by  our  Supreme  Court,  that 
municipalities  have  no  inherent  power.  That  means  that  the 
mere  fact  of  creating  a municipal  corporation  does  not  give 
that  corporation  any  power  whatever.  Every  power  which  it 
exercises  must  find  itself  stated  either  in  constitutional  or  stat- 
utory provision.  If  a city  desires  to  pay  a salary  to  its  mayor, 
it  must  look  to  the  law  for  the  power.  If  it  desires  to  buy  a 
fire  truck,  the  constitutional  or  statutory  provision  must  be 
pointed  out.  All  the  powers  of  our  municipal  corporations  are 
powers  granted  either  by  the  Constitution  or  by  the  statutes, 
and  so  it  becomes  apparent  that  the  discussion  here  is  largely 
a legal  one. 

All  of  us  are  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  fact  that  cities 
operating  under  governments  of  their  own  are  rather  modern.  A 
few  of  the  larger  cities  have  had  such  government  for  a num- 
ber of  years,  but  the  extensive  operation  has  been  brought 
about  only  within  the  last  few  years.  This  means  that  few  of 
the  questions  which  might  naturally  arise  have  found  their  way 
to  the  Supreme  Courts  of  the  States,  and  therefore  in  a legal 
discussion,  in  many  particulars,  we  are  a great  deal  like  a ship 
on  an  unknown  sea.  The  lawyer  usually  likes  to  guess  at  the 


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position  the  Supreme  Court  of  his  state  will  take  in  the  matter. 
Our  own  Supreme  Court  has  passed  upon  these  questions  in  but 
few  instances,  hence,  I am  going  to  discuss  one  main  feature 
of  this  subject  in  the  way  that  I think  is  correct,  hoping  that  if 
it  be  correct,  when  the  matter  is  presented  to  the  Supreme 
Court  it  will  take  the  same  view. 

Our  state  is  one  of  very  varied  resources.  It  is  also  a 
state  of  a very  cosmopolitan  population.  We  have  come  from 
every  state  in  the  Union,  where  every  conceivable  kind  of 
government  has  been  found.  So  the  Constitution  makers  of 
our  state,  realizing  that  the  people  in  Ada  might  desire  a very 
different  kind  of  government  from  what  the  people  in  Wood- 
ward might  want,  and  realizing  that  the  necessities  and  the 
tastes,  the  opportunities  and  the  resources  of  a town  like  Vi- 
nita  might  be  decidedly  different  from  those  in  a town  like 
Altus,  placed  in  the  Constitution  a provision  which  allowed 
these  cities  in  formulating  their  own  local  governments,  to  es- 
tablish them  according  to  their  own  ideas  and  necessities,  the 
limitations  being  only  those  of  local  government  and  the 
Constitution  of  the  State. 

For  instance,  it  says  in  substance  to  the  people  of  Ardmore. 
“If  you  people  want  to  erect  a little  monarchy  and  elect  a 
single  ruler  and  make  him  King  or  Czar,  you  may  do  so.  If 
you  want  to  place  in  his  hands  all  the  judicial  and  all  the  ex- 
ecutive powers  of  your  city,  you  may  do  so.”  Or  they  say  to 
the  cities  of  this  state,  “If  you  want  to  have  a legislative  body 
of  one  hundred  men,  you  may  have  them,  and  if  you  want  to 
limit  these  one  hundred  in  the  expenditure  even  to  ten  cents 
upon  a vote  of  the  people  you  may  do  so.”  In  these  matters, 
purely  local,  they  have  said  to  the  cities,  “you  may  do  what 
you  wish.  You  may  elect  a Manager  and  pay  him  a salary  of 
ten  thousand  dollars  per  year,  or  you  may  limit  him  to  ten 
dollars  per  year.  You  may  provide  that  every  employee  of  the 
city  shall  be  a resident  of  your  city,  or  you  may  send  to  New 
York  City  for  your  Chief  of  Police  or  any  other  officer  you  may 
want  to  have.”  All  of  these  matters,  purely  local,  the  Consti- 
tution vests  in  these  cities  themselves. 

I emphasize  purely  local  matters.  For  instance,  the  state 
is  interested  in  the  education  of  all  of  its  children  and  there- 
fore a city  could  not  say  we  will  have  but  six  months  school, 
if  the  state  says  you  muist  have  nine.  The  state  is  interested 
in  the  protection  of  the  life  and  property  of  all  of  its  citizens. 


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Hence,  if  the  State  says  the  man  who  burglarized  your  home 
shoud  be  punished  with  ten  years  in  the  State  Penitentiary,  a 
city  chould  not  reduce  it  to  five,  but  in  those  matters  where  the 
state  can  have  no  concern,  the  Home  Rule  Clause  makes  the 
people  supreme,  with  the  limitation  only  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  state  and  the  laws  that  might  be  passed  pursuant  to  those 
constitutional  provisions. 

For  instance,  it  might  be  said  that  the  state  has  no  concern 
in  the  purely  city  taxes  or  taxation  for  purely  city  purposes, 
yet  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  state  has  said  that  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  state  makes  provision  for  all  kinds  and  all  classes 
of  taxation  and  therefore  the  cities  cannot  exercise  those  priv- 
ileges. Hence  within  the  limitation  of  the  Constitution  and 
purely  local  matters,  the  cities  taking  advantage  of  the  Home 
Rule  Clause  are  supreme. 

It  is  Section  3 a,  Article  Eighteen  of  the  Constitution  which 
aiuthorizes  cities  having  a population  of  more  than  two  thous- 
and to  frame  a Charter  for  their  own  government.  This  sec- 
tion provides  the  method  of  electing  a Board  of  Free-Holders 
to  formulate  this  charter  and  the  method  by  which  it  shall  be 
submitted  to  the  voters  of  the  city.  After  it  has  been  prepared, 
submitted  and  ratified,  the  Constitution  provides:  “It  shall 
thereafter  be  submitted  to  the  Governor  for  his  approval,  and 
the  Governor  shall  approve  the  same  if  it  shall  not  be  in  con- 
flict with  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  such  state.  Upon  such 
approval  it  shall  become  the  organic  law  of  such  city  and  sup- 
ersede any  existing  charter,  and  all  amendments  thereof  and 
all  ordinances  inconsistent  with  it.” 

It  will  be  observed  that  this  Constitutional  provision  says 
that  this  charter  wrhen  approved  by  the  Governor  shall  become 
the  organic  law  for  such  city.  The  term  “organic”  may  need 
a little  explanation.  It  is  a very  broad  word  and  when  the 
cities  of  this  state  have  thoroughly  grasped  its  meaning,  they 
will  realize  much  more  the  full  force  and  real  value  of  this 
clause. 

The  City  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  was  authorized  to  frame  a 
charter  for  its  own  government,  and  the  law  of  that  state  said 
that  when  that  charter  was  framed,  adopted  and  approved, 
hat  it  should  be  the  organic  law  for  that  city.  The  Supreme 
Court  of  that  state  in  defining  the  term  said,  “Organic  law  is 
a term  usually  applied  to  Constitutional  law  only.”  To  apply 
this  definition,  the  organic  law  for  the  city  becomes  its  con- 


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stitution.  There  is  no  law  higher  than  organic  law  in  this  Na- 
tion. There  is  no  law  higher  than  Constitutional  law.  It  was 
Runnymede,  in  1215,  that  gave  us  Magna  Carta,  the  Great 
Charter,  and  this  Great  Charter  has  been  said  to  be  at  the  very 
foundation  of  government  by  the  people.  In  like  manner  the 
Constitution  of  this  state  says  that  the  people  of  hese  cities 
may  frame  a charter  and  this  charter  shall  be  their  organic 
law. 

I am  emphasizing  these  things  because  I want  you  to  feel 
and  believe,  as  I believe,  that  we  should  apply  in  the  con- 
struction of  these  rights  the  same  rule  to  the  organic  law  that 
we  apply  to  the  constitution  of  a state.  I want  to  leave  with 
you  the  idea  of  the  complete  sovereignty  and  unlimited  capacity 
of  the  people  of  this  state  in  adopting  or  formulating  their 
own  government.  In  the  very  early  history  of  our  Nation, 
Constitutions  being  modern  then,  it  became  necessary  for  one 
of  our  Federal  Courts  as  early  as  1799  to  define  a Constitution. 

In  the  case  of  Vanhornev.  Dorrance,  First  L.  Ed.,  393,  is 
the  following:  “What  is  a constitution?  It  is  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment, delineated  by  the  mighty  land  of  the  people,  in 
which  certain  first  principles  of  fundamental  laws  are  estab- 
lished. The  Constitution  is  certain  and  fixed;  it  contains  the 
permanent  will  of  the  people,  and  is  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land;  it  is  paramount  to  the  power  of  the  legislature,  and  can 
be  revoked  or  altered  only  by  the  authority  that  made  it. 

The  life-giving  principle  and  the  death-doing  stroke  must 
proceed  from  the  same  hand.  What  are  legislatures?  Crea- 
tures of  the  constitution;  they  owe  their  existence  to  the 
constitution;  they  derive  their  powers  from  the  constitution;  it 
is  their  commission,  and,  therefore,  all  their  acts  must  be  con- 
formable to  it,  or  else  they  will  be  void.  The  constitution  is 
the  work  or  will  of  the  people  themselves,  in  their  original 
sovereign  and  unlimited  capacity.  Law  is  the  work  or  will  of  the 
legislature  in  their  derivative  and  subordinate  capacity.  The 
one  is  the  work  of  the  Creator,  and  the  other  of  the  creature.” 

The  Mighty  Hand  of  th$.  People,  Supreme  Law  of  the  Land, 
Soverign  and  Unlimited  Capacity.  These  are  terms  which 
certainly  say  to  the  people  of  these  cities  that  they  may  make 
any  kind  of  government  that  suits  their  taste,  their  fancies  or 
necessities. 

Let  uis  go  a little  further.  The  Constitution  of  our  state 
says:  All  political  power  is  inherent  in  the  people:  and  gov- 


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ernment  is  institutited  for  their  protection,  security  and  bene- 
fit and  to  promote  their  ge  neral  welfare;  and  they  have  the 
right  to  alter  or  reform  the  same  whenever  the  public  good 
may  require.  Here  is  our  own  constitution  telling  the  people 
of  this  state  that  all  political  power  is  inherent  with  them,  and 
that  government  is  instituted  for  their  protection,  security  and 
benefit,  and  is  subject  to  revision  or  amendment  whenever  they 
in  their  judgment  believe  that  the  public  good  requires  it. 
No  such  provision  is  found  in  our  Constitution  referring  to 
cities,  and  yet  we  must  say,  within  the  limits  of  their  own 
government,  they  are  as  unlimited  as  the  state  is  within  its 
own  limits. 

I am  going  to  refer  to  the  matter  of  amendment,  and  to  a 
particular  case  in  a moment,  to  illustrate  to  you  my  idea  of  the 
full  force  and  full  value  of  this  clause.  There  is  in  the  Consti- 
tution of  Iowa  a clause  similar  to  that  in  the  Oklahoma  Con- 
stitution which  I have  julst  quoted,  but  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Iowa  commenting  on  that  clause  says:  Abstractly  considered, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  correctness  of  the  propositions 
embraced  in  this  section.  These  principles  are  older  than 
constitutions,  and  older  than  governments.  The  people  did 
not  derive  the  rights  referred  to  from  the  constitution,  and,  in 
their  nature  they  are  such  that  the  people  cannot  surrender 
them.  The  people  would  have  retained  them  if  they  had  not 
been  specifically  recognized  in  the  constitution.  Applied  to  cit- 
ies, this  reasoning  of  the  Supreme  Court  says  that  within  our 
limitations  a city  shall  have  the  right  to  frame  its  own  govern- 
ment for  its  own  good,  and  alter  or  amend  the  same  whenever 
it  believes  the  public  good  requires. 

I am  going  to  come  now  to  the  concrete  illustration  pend- 
ing in  the  Supreme  Court  from  the  City  of  Lawton.  Of  course, 
I do  not  know  what  position  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  state 
may  take  in  deciding  that  case,  but  it  is  a good  illustration  of 
the  view  I have  taken.  The  charter  of  the  City  of  Lawton  pro- 
vides that  the  salary  of  the  Commissioners  for  that  city  shall 
be  two  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  and  that  that  salary  shall 
be  neither  increased  or  decreased  during  the  term  of  office. 
At  the  election  held  last  April,  three  Commissioners  were 
elected,  their  terms  beginning  the  first  Monday  in  May. 
At  the  same  election  an  amendment  was  made  to  that  charter 
reducing  the  salary  to  twelve  hundred  dollars  per  year.  The 
amendment  was  approved  by  the  Governor  on  the  2nd  day  of 


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September,  and  the  Commissioners  took  the  position  that  the 
amendment  could  not  become  operative  during  their  term  of 
office,  and  they  cited  the  charter  itself  as  prohibiting  the  in- 
crease or  decrease  of  their  salary,  and  they  also  cited  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  state  which  prohibits  the  increase  or  decrease 
of  a public  official’s  salary. 

A case  very  similar  is  that  of  Bridgman  v.  Roberts  from  Ard- 
more where  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  state  said  that  the  power 
that  created  an  office  could  abolish  that  office  whenever  it  saw 
fit,  but  it  was  contended  that  there  was  no  prohibition  against 
abolishing  an  office  and  therefore  that  case  might  not  apply  in 
the  Lawton  case.  This  is  strictly  a question  of  the  reduction 
of  salary  in  the  face  of  the  State  Constitution  and  in  the  face 
of  the  charter.  I believe  that  the  State  Constitutional  provi- 
sion on  reduction  applies  to  only  those  offices  created  by  the 
constitution  or  its  authority,  and  does  not  apply  to  city  offices 
or  offices  created  by  cities,  We  would  have  little  trouble  with 
that  provision,  but  this  question  looms  up.  Can  the  people  in 
their  sovereign  and  unlimited  capacity  say  to  a man  when 
elected  to  an  office,  “We  will  give  you  two  thousand  dollars 
per  year.  We  will  give  you  two  years,  and  won’t  reduce  that 
salary,  and  we  won’t  increase  it,”  and  can  they  bind  themselves 
by  such  a promise  to  the  official  so  that  the  people  the  next 
day  would  not  revoke  or  alter  or  amend  that  provision?  If  we 
be  correct,  fundamentally,  that  the  people  are  the  creators,  that 
they  are  the  ones  who  gave  the  life-giving  principle  and  they  are 
the  ones  that  strike  the  death-dealing  blow,  then  we  must  say 
that  the  people  at  any  time  may  not  only  abolish  an  office,  but 
may  reduice  the  salary  of  an  officer  during  his  term  of  office. 

The  provisions  found  in  the  state  constitution  and  the  City 
Charter  cannot  bind  the  people.  They  do  bind,  however,  the 
Legislature.  The  section  of  the  Lawton  Chapter  which  says 
that  the  salary  shall  not  be  increased  or  decreased  is  not  ad- 
dressed to  the  people  in  their  soverign  capacity,  but  is  a limita- 
tion upon  the  Legislttive  body  of  the  city.  The  section  in  the 
State  Constitution  which  prohibits  the  increase  of  the  salary  of 
an  officer  is  not  a limitation  upon  the  people  but  is  a limita- 
tion upon  the  Legislative  branch,  and  the  Legislators  of  this 
state  cannot  positively  increase  or  decrease  by  Legislative  en- 
actment, the  salary  of  a public  official. 

The  Governor  now  receives  a salary  of  $4,500.00  by  consti- 
tutional provision,  but  why  could  'not  the  people  initiate  an 


University  of  Oklahoma  95 

amendment  to  that  Constitutional  provision  and  increase  that 
salary  to  five  thousand  dollars  or  six  thousand  dollars  and 
make  it  effective  at  once? 

The  unsettled  condition  in  the  State  of  Kentucky  at  the 
time  Goebel  and  Taylor  ran  for  the  office  of  Governor  is  com- 
mon history  to  most  of  us.  The  incidents  connected  with  that 
strife  finally  found  their  way  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  In  the  case  of  Taylor  v.  Beckham,  44  L.  Ed., 
1187,  Chief  Justice  Fuller  in  rendering  the  opinion  said:  ‘‘The 
decisions  are  numerous  to  the  effect  that  public  offices  are 
fmere  agencies  or  trusts,  and  not  property  as  such.  Nor  are 
the  salary  and  emoluments  property  secured  by  contract,  but 
compensation  for  services  actually  rendered.  Nor  does  the  fact 
that  a constitution  may  forbid  the  legislature  from  abolishing  a 
public  office  or  diminishing  the  salary  thereof  during  the  term 
of  the  incumbent  change  its  character  or  make  it  property. 
True,  the  restrictions  limit  the  power  of  the  legislature  to  deal 
with  the  office,  but  even  such  restrictions  may  be  removed  by 
constitutional  amendment.  In  short,  generally  speaking,  the 
nature  of  the  relation  of  a public  officer  toi  the  public  is  incon- 
sistent with  either  a property  or  a contract  iright. 

Here  is  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  the  highest 
judicial  authority  in  the  land,  stating  that  these  restrictions 
cannot  bind  the  sovereign  people. 

In  the  case  of  Oarhood  v.  City  Denver,  91  Pacific,  1116,  a 
large  number  of  offices  were  involved.  The  opinion  will  be 
too  long  to  quote,  but  the  Supreme  Court,  after  pointing  out 
that  the  Constitution  of  Colorado  positively  forbids  the  in- 
crease or  decrease  of  salary  of  a public  officer  during  his  term 
of  office,  says:  “It  cannot  be  asserted  that  section  30  of  article 
5 prohibits  the  people  from  amending  their  own  constitution,” 
and  the  court  points  out  numerous  amendments  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  Colorado,  increasing  the  salary  of  the  Governor, 
increasing  the  salaries  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  and 
District  Judges  and  increasing  the  salary  of  county  officers 
and  the  court  says  that  in  every  instance  those  in  office  began 
at  once  to  receive  the  salary.  Then  the  court  says:  “So  it  is 
seen  that  the  people  have  repeatedly  exercised  the  power  to  da 
those  things  prohibited  by  section  30  of  article  5.  The  inhi- 
bitions mentioned  in  this  section  are  restrictions  upon  the 
legislative  branch  of  government,  and  not  against  the  power  of 
the  people  to  amend  the  constitution.” 


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The  Supreme  Court  of  Minnesota  in  the  case  of  State  v. 
Frizzell,  18  N.  W.  316,  says:  "It  is  elementary  that  there  is 
no  contract,  express  or  implied  between  a public  officer  and 
the  government,  whose  agent  he  is,  for  the  continuance  of  his 
office  or  the  permanency  of  his  salary  for  the  full  term  for 
which  he  was  elected.  Public  officers  have  no  proprietary  in- 
terest in  their  offices,  or  any  right  of  property  in  the  pros- 
pective compensation  thereto.  Public  offices,  in  theory,  at  least, 
are  held  and  exercised  for  the  benefit  of  the  public  and  not  for 
the  incumbent.  Therefore,  it  is  in  all  cases  competent  for  the 
people,  in  their  soverign  capacity,  to  abolish  an  office  or  short- 
en the  term,  or  reduce  or  take  away  entirely  the  salary  attached 
to  it  without  regard  to  the  interest  or  expectations  of  the  in- 
cumbent as  to  the  prospective  compensation.” 

, And  then  the  matter  is  summed  up  in  Vol.  6 Am.  & Ency. 
L.  Ed.  page  901,  Second  Edition,  where  the  author  says:  “In 
constitutional  governments  authority  to  modify  or  alter  the 
organic  law  is  inherent  in  those  who  under  the  existing  insti- 
tutions are  clothed  with  the  ultimate  exercise  of  soverignty.” 

I need  not  pursue  this  line  further.  I have  used  this  be- 
cause it  is  an  extreme  illustration.  In  this  state  it  is  thought 
that  we  cannot  change  the  salary  of  a public  officer  during  his 
term  of  office.  We  forget  that  the  limitation  was  placed  upon 
the  legislative  branch  of  government,  and  we  overlook  the 
fact  that  nowhere  has  the  mouth  of  the  people  been  muzzled. 
They  may  speak;  they  may  create,  and  they  may  destroy.  It 
is  repugnant  to  our  sense  of  free  government  that  the  people  of 
one  year  can  bind  the  people  of  another  year,  or  another  age, 
or  another  generation.  To  hold  that  the  people  of  to-day  can 
bind  the  people  of  ten  years  hence  is  to  destroy  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people  of  the  future.  Sovereignty  exists  every  where  and 
the  people  must  be  as  supreme  ten  years  hence,  or  one  year 
hence,  or  one  week  hence  as  they  are  to-day.  The  people  cannot 
surrender  their  right  to  alter  or  amend  their  fundamental  law. 
The  organic  law  is  entirely  within  their  keeping,  and  the 
mighty  voice  can  breath  upon  it  the  breath  of  life  whenever 
they  see  fit,  or  visit  it  with  the  Angel  of  Death  in  any  particu- 
lar they  see  fit. 

Every  man  here  interested  in  municipal  government  should 
believe  and  realize  and  grasp  the  broad  thought  of  the  com- 
plete supremacy  of  the  people  in  their  own  local  government, 
and  when  the  thought  of  complete  supremacy  of  the  people  is 


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fully  appreciated,  we  will  realize  the  many  advantage.*  that 
cities  may  have.  If  public  play  grounds  are  desired,  the  peo- 
ple may  have  them.  Tf  a municipal  bath-house,  or  a municipal 
laundry,  or  a municipal  ice  plant,  or  any  other  industry  is  de- 
si/red,  under  this  broad  principle  the  cities  can  have  it. 

Occasionally  a genius  produces  an  invention  of  some  sort 
that  is  highly  advantageous,  and  in  many  instances  these  in- 
ventions cannot  be  utilized  by  a city  for  years,  but  under  the 
doctrine  of  the  complete  supremacy  of  the  people,  whenever  a 
genius  produces  something  to  the  advantage  of  the  people, 
they,  through  their  charter,  may  provide  a way  to  take  im- 
mediate advantage  of  it. 

In  matters  of  sanitation,  sewerage,  meat  inspection,  water 
supply  and  matters  of  that  kinds,  scientific  research  often  dis- 
closes valuable  things,  and  the  complete  supremacy  of  the 
people  is  established  that  they  may  so  frame  their  charter  as  to 
take  advantage  immediately  of  whatever  scientific  research  may 
give. 

Once  thoroughly  understood,  our  cities  will  then  realize 
that  the  ‘Home  Rule  Clause’  in  the  Oklahoma  Constitution 
literally  sparkles  with  force  and  value. 

CHAIRMAN:  We  have  with  us  Dr.  Scott,  and  I am  sure 
we  would  all  be  glad  to  hear  from  him  for  a few  minutes. 

Dr.  SCOTT,  Extension  Division,  University  of  Oklahoma. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  This  is  absolutely  sudden. 
I thank  you,  however,  for  your  courtesy  in  calling  upon  me. 

I will  start  where  your  discussion  left  off — that  is,  with  the 
most  difficult  and  baffling  social  evil.  Of  course  I agree  with 
Dr.  Dowd  in  his  conclusions  as  to  the  necessity  of  the  sup- 
pression of  this  evil  altogether,  but  yet.  I cannot  fail  to  recog- 
nize the  immense  difficulty,  indeed  the  absolute  impossibility 
in  our  present  state  of  civilization,  of  this  summary  solution.  I 
am  sure  that  it  must  be  giving  all  of  you  mayors  and  other 
officials  of  the  larger  cities  a very  great  deal  of  trouble,  and  you 
are  asking  yourselves  the  question:  ‘Shall  we  segregate  this  vice 
or  shall  we  spread  it  abroad?’  The  difficulties  of  both  of  those 
solutions  have  been  set  forth  here,  and  indeed  they  have  been 
discussed  everywhere  throughout  our  country  foir  years  and 
years,  and  I do  not  pretend  to  be  able  to  add  any  thing  to  the 
discussion.  The  fact  is,  neither  of  these  solutions  is  a desira- 
ble one.  We  ought  to  ‘reform  it  altogether’,  as  Hamlet  says, 
that  is,  cut  it  out  root  and  branch;  but  we  may  hardly  hope  to 


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do  that  until  human  nature  itself  is  reformed. 

Somehow  it  is  so  much  harder  to  deal  with  than  the  en- 
forcement of  the  prohibition  laws,  in  our  cities.  I have  often 
said  that  a strong  and  resolute  mayor  can  absolutely  enforce 
prohibition,  even  in  the  largest  cities  in  the  state,  at  least  until 
the  sale  of  intoxicants  is  practically  a negligible  thing  to  society 
and  to  the  coming  generation.  As  a matter  of  fact,  itis  being  done 
right  now  in  our  very  largest  ci/ty  to  thafi  extent-.  Almost  every- 
thing depends  upon  the  mayor  If  he  is  absolutely  resolute,  ;and  if 
subordinates  know  that  he  means  business  and  that  their  po- 
sitions depend  upon  their  faithfulness  n enforcing  all  the 
laws — then,  I say,  he  can,  enforce  even  the  prohibitory  law. 
But  the  social  evil  presents  a very  different  situation.  It  is, 
indeed,  the  most  insidious  vice  of  the  cities,  and  altogether 
the  hardest  one  to  control.  My  belief  is  that  the  effort  should 
be  made  to  stamp  it  out  altogether,  and  this  effort  will  result 
at  least  in  reducing  it  to  a minimum. 

And  now,  reurning  to  the  general  object  of  your  conven- 
tion, there  is  one  thing  I wish  to  propound  to  this  meeting,  and 
particularly  to  our  expert  from  Kansas,  and  that  is  this: 
To  what  extent  should  mayors  and  other  city  officials  parti- 
cipate in  movements  looking  toward  civic  improvement?  I 
wish  Mr.  Talbot  had  spoken  more  at  length  upon  that  sub- 
ject. Of  course  it  goes  without  saying  that  the  qulestion  of 
beauty  and  adornment  involved  in  public  buildings,  parks,  and 
'other  public  possessions  lies  strictly  within  the  province 
of  municipal  authorities;  and  Heaven  hasten  the  day  when  our 
public  officers  shall  have  both  the  disposition  and  the  finan- 
cial resources  to  give  regard  to  these  questions  as  well  as  to 
material  problems.  But  I am  speaking  particularly  of  that 
public  sentiment  and  popular  effort  for  the  beautifying  of  our 
cities  which  must  spring  into  being  and  must  be  fostered  large- 
ly by  citizens  themselves.  I have  a feeling  that  two  mistakes 
are  frequently  made  in  connection  with  this  great  problem: 
first,  that  citizens  are  apt  to  push  these  enterprises  without  the 
co-operation  tof  he  city  officials;  and  second,  that  the  officers 
are  sometimes  inclined  to  stand  too  much  apart  from  these 
activities.  Certainly  there  should  be  co-operation  here,  as 
far  as  co-operation  is  possible.  I believe  that  municipal  civic 
societies  should  always  seek  the  counsel  and  co-operation  of 
the  city  officials,  and  that  the  latter  should  encourage  these 
civic  activities  and,  when  the  law  permits,  participate  in  them. 


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All  these  years,  in  Oklahoma,  we  have  been  getting  on  our 
feet  financially.  And  this  is  well.  Material  prosperity  must 
come  first.  Everything  we  call  spiritual  rests  back  upon  the 
material.  But  is  it  not  about  time  that  we  should  begin  to 
look  at  the  aesthetic  side  of  the  development  of  our  cities? 
Some  of  ou)r  cities  are  indeed  doing  this  in  mostsplendid  fashion. 
To  take  a single  concrete  instance:  I never  find  myself  ap- 
proaching the  city  of  Enid  in  the  summer  time  that  I do  not 
look  forward  with  eager  anticipation  to  a visit  to  its  most 
beautiful  and  restful  park.  Oklahoma  City,  too,  is  rapidly  be- 
coming one  of  the  most  beautiful  cities  of  its  class,  owing  chief- 
ly to  the  spirit  of  friendly  rivalry  in  behalf  of  beautiful  home 
surroundings  which  has  been  engendered  of  very  recent  years, 
largely  through  the  activities  of  local  civic  improvement  clubs. 
This  is  the  thing  to  do,  I feel  sure:  the  city  officials  to  have  al- 
ways an  eye  for  beauity  in  all  public  development,  the  clubs  to 
promote  friendly  emulation  in  making  attractively  surrounded 
homes;  but  both  to  work  together  wherever  co-operation  is 
feasible. 

The  Extension  Department  of  the  University  has  in  mind 
the  proposition  to  inaugurate  contests  among  some  of  the 
towns  of  the  state  covering  various  lines  of  aesthetic  develop- 
ment— and  moral  development,  too,  for  that  matter.  It  is  no 
easy  problem  to  formulate,  and  it  is  a still  less  easy  one  to 
carry  out:  but  I hope  it  wdll  be  worth  the  effort  in  the  near  fu- 
ture. Beauty  is  one  of  the  most  ulseful  things  in  all  the  world, 
and  every  city  that  recognizes  its  value  and  lets  it  have  its  way 
w-ill  find  in  the  end  that  it  is  a commercial  asset,  to  say  the 
least  of  it,  of  incalcuable  importance. 

While  I was  surprised,  Mr.  President,  when  called  upon,  I 
am  glad  you  gave  me  this  opportunity  to  bring  up  the  subject 
of  civic  beauty  and  the  co-operation  of  city  officials  in  it. 


FIRE  PREVENTION 

Commissioner  of  Police  T.  J.  Quinn,  Tulsa,  Okla. 

The  subject  assigned  me  for  the  meeting,  is  so  broad  and  so 
detailed,  that  I enter  upon  it  with  misgivings  as  to  my  ability 
to  properly  draw  a word  picture  for  your  consideration.  But 
since  we,  as  members  of  this  League,  have  it  in  our  power  to 
pass  ordinances  and  laws  providing  preventing  as  well  as 


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extinguishing  methods,  I will  try  to  give  you  some  points  that 
may  suggest  ideas  that  can  be  elaborated  upon  to  suit  special 
local  conditions,  and  at  the  same  time,  not  bore  you  with  the 
mass  of  statistics  that  are  available  on  this  subject. 

The  science  of  extinguishing  fires  has  been  developed  in 
this  country  until  the  fire  departments  are  far  in  advance  of 
any  country  in  the  world.  This  country  leads  in  equipment, 
capacity  and  number  of  pieces  of  apparatus,  manned  by  high- 
ly trained  men,  capable  of  combating  any  reasonable  fire,  but 
fire  preventive  construction  in  our  cities  has  been  neglected 
to  such  an  extent  that  we  invite  conflagrations. 

Why  do  we  hesitate  to  pass  building  ordinances  which  we 
know  in  our  own  mind  to  be  for  the  general  good?  We. cater 
to  the  friendship  of  our  citizens  and  we  are  afraid  to  pass  a 
strict  ordinance,  for  fear  it  will  affect  some  of  our  friends.  If 
they  have  to  spend  a few  dollars  to  put  their  premises  in  safe 
condition,  they  and  their  friends  are  on  our  backs,  and  they 
never  light  there  but  they  wrant  to  dig  a little.  So  we  don’t 
pass  laws  requiring  non-combustible  roofs,  fire  walls  at  reason- 
able distances  in  a block;  the  safe  storage  of  gasoline  or  inflam- 
mable liquids;  keeping  trash  cleaned  up;  making  electrical 
wiring  safe;  keeping  flues  clean,  and  the  hundred  and  one 
things  that  go  to  prevent  the  enormous  fire  waste  of  over 
$200,000,000  a year.  Beside  this  annual  loss  we  have  the  oc- 
casional burning  of  a whole  city  which  destroys  millions 
above  the  average,  and  snulffs  out  the  lives  of  untold  thousands. 

Chicago  recently  received  a very  decided  reduction  in  in- 
surance not  from  the  fact  that  their  fire  department  has  been 
increased  above  normal,  but  from  the  fact  that  the  moral 
hazard  was  reduced  by  good,  protective  ordinances;  better 
building  codes,  rigidly  enforced,  and  by  an  increasing  public 
preception  of  the  real  economy  of  less  combustible  building 
material — in  other  words,  by  prevention  before  the  fire  occurs. 

The  Chicago  Herald  hits  the  nail  on  the  head  when  it 
says,  “The  vital  fact  to  be  always  remembered  and  emphasized 
is  that  the  destruction  of  property  by  fire  is  an  absolute 
waste.  The  property  that  burns  fully  insured  is  considered  by 
many  as  no  loss.  But  the  fact  remains,  that  the  insurance 
companies  have  taken  up  an  assessment  among  others,  keeping- 
part  for  their  trouble,  and  paying  your  loss.  In  the  long  run, 
those  who  receive  these  indemnities,  return  it  dollar  for  dollar 
in  premiums  paid  in  the  past,  or  will  pay  in  the  future.” 


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Every  year  the  property  burned,  if  placed  on  both  sides  of 
a street,  would  extend  from  New  York  to  Chicago,  a blazing, 
-terrifying  tribute  to  our  annual  carelessness.  Authorities  on 
-fire  prevention  claim  that  seventy-five  per  cent  of  our  loss  could 
be  prevented  by  exercising  just  the  simplest  rules  of  preven- 
tion. 

Prevention  of  fires  is  not  wholly  dependent  upon  the  pas- 
sage and  enforcement  of  proper  ordinances,  but  must  be  brought 
sage  and  enforcement  of  proper  ordinances,  but  must  be  brought 
to  its  highest  efficiency  as  the  result  of  education.  This  can- 
not be  accomplished  in  a day  or  a year,  but  the  rising  genera- 
tions can  be  taught  that  although  fire  is  man’s  best  servant  it 
is  a poor  master.  Thus  by  teaching  them  at  an  early  age  ways 
of  preventing  fire,  when  they  grow  to  take  their  places  in  the 
affairs  of  the  world,  they  will  exercise  the  caution  that  charac- 
terizes this  age  only  by  its  abuse. 

When  we  think  of  this  vast  bonfire,  we  stand  amazed  at  the 
wealth  of  the  nation  that  is  destroyed,  and  ask  ourselves  what 
can  we  do  to  conserve  our  property.  Increase  our  fire  depart- 
ments? No,  not  necessarily.  Prevent?  Yes.  The  most  modern 
fire  departments  are  working  now,  more  on  the  preventing 
end  of  the  science  of  fire-fighting,  than  they  are  on  the  ex- 
tinguishing, for  all  realize  that  there  is  the  key  to  success. 
But  the  fire  department  cannot  see  every  carelessness,  for  their 
time  is  taken  up  in  staying  in  readiness  at  the  station,  and 
members  should  not  be  sent  out  to  make  wholesale  inspections, 
reaching  even  into  the  residence  section  of  the  city,  for  most  of 
our  departments  are  short  of  men  to  properly  handle  the  ap- 
paratuses, even  when  all  are  on  duty. 

This  general  inspection  should  be  under  a fire  marshal  of 
warden,  whose  duty  it  is  to  find  dangerous  places  and  have 
them  corrected;  to  see  that  fire  prevention  ordinances  are  en- 
forced, and  to  fulfil  such  other  duties  as  are  apparent.  The 
fire  chief’s  time  is  too  divided  between  responding  to  alarms, 
keeping  his  department  up  to  standard,  and  the  hundreds  of 
details  connected  with  the  department  to  do  this.  The  warden. 
Eowever,  can  devote  his  entire  time  to  prevention. 

The  firemen  should  familiarize  themselves  with  the  build- 
ings in  the  business  district,  but  their  observations  will  nat- 
urally be  along  the  lines  of  extinguishment,  and  they  may 
easily  overlook  many  details  that  make  for  a great  fire  loss. 

The  fire  loss  of  the  United  States  is  over  $2.00  annually  for 


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each  man,  woman  and  child  in  this  country,  while  the  per 
capita  loss  for  Germany  is  30  cents,  and  for  other  European 
countries  from  30  cents  to  60  cents.  They  have  learned  their 
lesson  and  profited  thereby,  building  so  that  fires  will  be  con- 
fined to  small  areas.  Prevention  laws  are  enforced  there  that 
in  this  country  would  be  considered  as  taking  away  our  perso- 
nal liberty. 

Did  Chicago  hesitate  to  pass  drastic  laws  on  theatres  after 
the  Iroquois  disaster?  No.  Every  show-house  was  closed  up  un- 
til the  buildings  were  practically  rebuilt. 

Did  Fort  Worth,  Galveston,  Houston,  Salem,  Mass.,  Balti- 
more, Md.,  and  others,  hesitate  to  pass  laws  prohibiting  shingle 
roofs,  after  fire  had  swept  unhindered  thru  their  midst?  No. 
It  was  the  proper  thing  to  do,  after,  mind  you!,  after  the  un- 
expected happened.  Why  can’t  we  profit  by  the  mishaps  of 
others?  We  are  like  the  property  owner  who  says,  when  a 
dangerous  condition  is  pointed  out  to  him  by  the  inspector, 
“Why  that  has  been  that  way  for  over  a year,  and  we  never  had 
a fire,”  while  the  fire  department  is  putting  out  fires  every  day 
from  exactly  the  same  cause.  We  have  never  died  before,  but  is 
that  any  reason  why  we  should  not  take  medicine  when  we  are 
sick? 

I have  not  taken  up  cases  of  the  great  number  of  small 
fires  that  go  to  make  up  the  grand  total,  but  more  the  causes 
of  great  conflagrations  that  wipe  out  block  after  block,  sparing 
the  homes  of  neither  the  rich  nor  the  poor.  The  reason  I have 
done  this  is  that  I believe  a great  conflagration  is  entirely  un- 
necessary with  a good  fire  department.  All  fires,  barring  an 
explosion,  could  be  confined  to  small  areas,  by  fire  walls,  non- 
combustible roofs;  trash  kept  in  proper  recepticles,  and  good 
construction. 

The  ninety-nine  per  cent  of  fires  are  small  affairs,  that  can 
generally  be  prevented  by  exercising  good  judgment;  keeping 
cellars  and  out-of-the-way  places  clear  of  rubbish:  protecting 
matches;  inspecting  flues;  protecting  stoves  and  gas  jets;  keep- 
ing children  from  playing  with  matches;  installing  electric  fix- 
tures in  a safe  manner,  and  numerous  other  don’ts,  including 
trusting  to  luck  to  get  by  with  a dangerous  condition. 


GUARDING  THE  CITY’S  HEALTH 

Dr.  John  W.  Duke,  Guthrie,  Okla.,  State  Commissioner  of  Health 

Of  first  importance  in  the  protection  of  health  and  human 
life  is  the  enactment  of  necessary  and  proper  laws,  and  the  pro- 
viding of  adequate  funds  for  their  enforcement,  especially  in 
matters  of  sanitation,  sewage  disposal,  and  the  inspection  of 
dairies  and  milk.  These  matters  are  the  chief  duties  of  a san- 
itary officer.  If  those  were  well  looked  after,  the  health  of  the 
people  likewise  would  be  well  looked  after,  . 

There  is  more  need  at  the  present  time  for  educational 
thought  in  connection  with  the  sanitation  of  small  towns  than 
of  larger  cities.  The  larger  cities  have  been  forced  to  enact 
laws  of  self  protection.  The  small  towns  have  not. 

Three  things  are  necessary  for  efficiency  of  a health  admin- 
istration, namely  the  man,  the  power,  and  the  place  at  which 
to  make  the  start.  Possessed  with  these  and  a willingness  to 
work  for  improved  public  health,  both  on  the  part  of  the  admin- 
istrator and  of  the  administered,  good  results  must  necessarily 
follow.  Efficiency  is  the  great  absorbing  catch-word  of  this  age. 
Haphazard  methods  are  rapidly  being  done  away  with  and 
methods  of  precision  substituted.  Nowhere  has  efficiency  been 
more  marked  in  recent  years  than  in  the  method  of  preventing 
and  eradicating  disease. 

Efficiency  in  public  health  administration  has  assumed  the 
dignity  of  science. 

Efficiency  is  the  accomplishment  of  a given  task  in  the 
shortest  time  possible,  with  the  least  effort,  and  without  waste. 
To  do  this,  it  is  necessary  that  one  know  what  he  wants  to  do 
and  has  the  power  to  do  it. 

Knowing  what  you  want  to  do  in  public  health  work  is  a 
knowledge  possessed  by  a very  small  number  of  persons.  The 
power  with  which  to  do  this  work  is  legal  and  financial. 

The  public  health  official  in  order  to  accomplish  the  great- 
est degree  of  efficiency,  in  addition  to  being  intelligent  and  well 
versed  in  the  science  of  health,  must  also  be  an  epidemiologist, 
and  devote  all  of  his  time  to  his  official  duties.  The  conser- 


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vation  of  health  is  an  expensive  necessity,  and  cannot  be  derived 
from  poorly  prepared,  and  underpaid  men.  When  the  invading 
micro-organism  of  a disease  is  known  and  its  method  of  dis- 
semination has  been  determined,  the  means  to  be  taken  to  pre- 
vent or  to  destroy  disease  are  very  simple.  The  greater  our 
ignorance  concerning  the  cause  and  methods  of  transmission 
of  disease  the  more  complicated  are  our  theories  as  to  its  his- 
tory and  mode  of  infection.  When  the  principles  which  under- 
lie cause  and  means  of  the  spread  of  a disease  become  known, 
we  are  amazed  at  the  simplicity  of  the  facts. 

Take,  for  example,  the  application  of  the  principle  that  ma- 
laria is  a mosquito  disease.  The  people  may  not  understand 
that  all  that  is  necessary  to  control  an  outbreak  or  to  prevent 
the  recurrence  is  to  thoroughly  insulate  or  protect  man  against 
mosquitos.  A cry  is  immediately  raised  by  the  people  which 
says;  “Let  us  kill  all  the  mosquitos.”  The  sanitarian  says:  “Yes, 
but  let  us  also  make  mosquito-proof  the  living  and  sleeping 
places  of  man.” 

Typhoid  fever  is  transmitted  by  the  ingestion  of  human 
excrement.  The  people,  upon  learning  this,  immediately  cry; 
“We  will  pass  a law  forbidding  the  use  of  the  well.”  The  sanit- 
arian says:  “Very  well,  but  we  must  also  enact  laws  for  the  prop- 
er disposal  of  the  sewage  and  the  improvement  of  the  water 
supply;  the  destruction  of  the  breeding  places  of  flies,  and  the 
protection  of  food  supplies  from  infection  by  chronic  carriers. 

In  order  to  secure  a minimum  of  these  much  to  be  desired 
results  we  must  have  thoroughly  trained  men  to  do  this  work. 
In  other  words,  we  need  full-time  health  officers.  The  untrained 
health  officer  usually  establishes  a shotgun  quarantine;  burns  tar 
barrels  in  the  street,  and  washes  down  the  house  with  bi- 
chlorid  of  mercury  to  stop  the  outbreak  of  yellow  fever,  when  all 
that  is  necessary  is  to  destroy  the  mosquito,  which  carries  this 
infection. 

The  medical  profession  is  responsible  for  the  sa'nitary  awa- 
kening and  the  education  of  the  general  public  such  as  we  have 
gained,  but  we  must  not  expect  to  make  the  people  expert  san- 
itarians. We  should  endeavor,  however,  to  make  preventive 
medicine  popular  and  teach  the  rising  generation  the  principles 
and  practices  of  personal  hygiene. 

After  the  age  of  25  years  it  probably  would  be  impossible  to 
teach  the  average  person  the  habitual  use  of  the  tooth  brush. 
We,  therefore,  must  not  expect  any  marked  or  decided  change 


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in  regard  to  sanitation  from  the  present  adult  generation. 
Problems  of  public  health,  with  special  reference  to  those  con- 
fronting the  small  towns,  the  rural  communities,  and  the  coun- 
try farm  home,  present  many  angles  for  consideration.  It  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  sanitarians  in  general  have  almost  com- 
pletely overlooked  the  small  towns,  especially  the  towns  in  the 
agricultural  districts,  ranging  from  a few  scattering  houses 
to  1000  population.  Such  towns  are  merely  a group 
of  country  homes  not  separated  by  the  intervening  farm  land. 
The  population  is  absolutely  rural  and  composed  of  people  just 
one  step  removed  from  the  farm. 

The  most  fundamental  sanitary  needs  of  the  small  town  are 
those  of  water  supply  and  excreta  disposal.  The  shallow  well 
and  the  privy  cannot  be  too  strongly  condemned,  yet  both 
usually  make  their  appearance  on  each  small  building  lot. 
Neither  is  ever  sufficiently  protected.  The  aversion  the  Amer- 
ican people  have  to  paying  taxes  is  largely  responsible  for  this 
condition.  By  a very  slight  increase  in  this  tax  problem  our 
sanitation  could  be  easily  taken  care  of  and  public  health 
protected. 

A public  scavenger  and  '‘can  privy”  would  almost  solve  the 
problem.  Such  privies  may  be  easily  cleaned  and  the  breeding 
places  of  flies  kept  down.  The  cleaning  of  the  cans,  or  vault 
privy,  could  be  made  often  enough  to  insure  a high  degree  of 
sanitation.  The  work  could  be  done  for  about  thirty  cents  per 
month  per  family. 

The  purity  of  the  streams  of  the  country  communities  is  us- 
ually gravely  doubted,  therefore  the  sewering  of  the  small  towns 
is  a question  which  must  receive  serious  and  profound  consid- 
eration, for  the  effect  on  the  health  of  the  whole  public  would  be 
tremendous  if  these  towns  could  be  properly  sewered.  It  is 
perhaps  an  unnecessary  burden  to  prevent  the  public  use  of  the 
small  streams  because  of  the  fear  of  polluting  these  streams 
and  injuring  the  drinking  water  for  use  of  live  stock. 

In  other  words,  because  some  land  owner  desires  to  pasture 
a few  head  of  cattle  on  a stream  going  through  his  property, 
the  small  town  necessarily  would  be  forced  to  spend  thousands 
of  dollars  for  a sewage  disposal  plant,  and  heavy  operating  ex- 
penses to  preserve  the  stream  from  pollution,  and  preserve  a pur- 
ity of  these  streams  which  does  not  exist. 

Unfortunately  the  time  assigned  for  the  paper  is  entirely 
too  short  to  discuss  all  the  problems  of  municipal  health  and 


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sanitation.  Some  of  the  most  important  sanitary  measures  to  be 
earnestly  considered  by  you  are: 

Children  must  be  well  fed,  and  live  in  fairly  comfortable  and 
well  ventilated  homes. 

The  grown-ups  must  likewise  be  taught  that  they  must  live 
upon  wholesome  food  balanced  rations — and  in  pure  air. 

The  streets  and  alleys  must  be  kept  clean;  free  from  garbage, 
refuse,  and  decaying  animal  and  vegetable  matter;  weeds  must 
be  cut  down;  ponds  and  all  places  that  would  hold  stagnant 
water  in  any  quantity  must  be  drained  and  filled. 

Meat  markets,  grocery  stores,  resturants,  drinking  fountains, 
and  all  places  where  foods  or  drinks  of  any  kind  are  sold,  or 
offered  for  sale,  should  be  regularly  inspected  by  an  intelligent 
sanitary  officer  and  the  venders  forced  to  comply  with  the 
health  laws. 

All  persons  suffering  from  contagious  diseases  should  be 
promptly  quarantined  and  kept  in  quarantine  until  all  danger 
from  infection  had  passed. 

The  citizens  of  the  small  town  should  be  induced  to  spend 
a great  deal  more  of  their  time  out  of  doors  and  to  practice  hab- 
its of  hygienic  rectitude. 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSION 

Dr.  Duke,  Chairman. 

CHAIRMAN:  Referring  to  Dr.  DeBarr’s  paper  on  the  ex- 
amination of  foods,  he  stated  the  difficulties  very  intelligently. 
In  most  instances  there  is  plenty  of  law,  but  no  money,  And 
it  is  alright  to  hold  these  meetings  and  discuss  ways  and  means, 
but  so  far,  very  little  good  has  been  accomplished  except  in 
starting  in  the  right  direction.  I hope  to  see  the  day  in  Oklaho- 
ma when  the  people  will  be  sufficiently  aroused  to  make  them- 
selves healthy  of  their  own  accord.  It  isn’t  necessary  for  people 
to  be  sick  with  these  diseases.  Perhaps  90  per  cent  of  the  dis- 
eases could  be  preventd.  I know  nothing  that  could  be  said 
against  the  intelligence  and  virtue  of  a nation,  worse  than  to 
state  that  85  per  cent  of  the  diseases  from  which  they  are  afflict- 
ed could  be  prevented.  You  are  to  a certain  extent  your  broth- 


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r’s  keeper,  and  you  must  interest  yourself  somewhat  in  the  pres- 
ervation of  his  health. 

Dr.  Ellison’s  lecture  on  a sanitary  survey  is  one  of  the  most 
instructive  presentations  of  the  real  condition  of  the  towns  and 
cities  in  our  state  today.  If  every  small  town  in  Oklahoma 
could  have  a survey  made  if  it  such  as  was  described  by  Dr.  El- 
lison the  good  that  would  result  from  this  extensive  work  would 
be  worth  millions  in  money  alone,  to  say  nothing  of  the  happi- 
ness that  would  come  to  a well  people.  You  certainly  would  not 
permit  such  a bad  sanitary  state  of  affairs  to  exist  in  your  com- 
munity if  you  knew  the  facts.  You  could  clean  up  your  towns 
with  very  little  work  and  with  less  expense  that  it  costs  you  to 
let  them  remain  as  they  now  are. 

In  regard  to  Rabies;  The  dog  is  the  animal  that  carries 
the  virus  mostly.  This  is  because  he  travels  about  from  place 
to  place  in  nomadic  manner  and  consequently  comes  in  contact 
with  other  animals  and  human  beings  more  frequently  than  do 
other  domestic  animals.  It  might  be  of  interest  to  you  to  know 
that  since  the  first  of  July,  1915,  seventy-six  animal  heads,  most- 
ly dogs,  have  been  forwarded  to  the  State  Board  of  Health  for 
examination  for  the  rabietic  virus.  Seventeen  of  these  examina- 
tions weire  positive,  forty-four  negative  and  fifteen  undetermined 
owing  to  the  decomposed  condition  that  the  head  was  in  when 
received  at  the  laboratory. 


FOOD  ADULTERATION 

Dr.  Edwin  DeBairr. 

State  Chemist  and  Head  of  Department  of  Chemistry,  Univer- 
sity of  Oklahoma;  Associate  Member  of  Naval 
. Consulting  Board  of  the  United  States. 

Very  few  people  understand  the  question  of  food  adulteration 
and  this  topic  is  considered  by  nearly  every  body  of  persons  who 
meet  to  discuss  the  cost  of  living  and  the  purity  of  foods.  It  is 
my  intention  at  this  time  to  point  out  some  means  for  the  com- 
mon person  to  assist  himself  in  getting  a better  understanding 
of  the  meaning  of  food  adulteration. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  food  adulterations,  First,  the  food 
adulterations  that  are  harmful  when  the  food  containing  the 


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adulteration  is  eaten.  Second,  Those  which  are  harmless  but 
which  cause  the  consumer  to  lose  money  by  making  him  pay  the 
price  of  a valuable  product  for  one  which  is  really  a cheap  imi- 
tation or  substitution.  Some  foods  contain  deleterious  ingredi- 
ents and  do  great  harm  to  the  system  which  attempts  to  assimi- 
late them.  We  shall  illustrate  this  idea  by  indicating  some  such 
adulterations.  Suppose  a food  like  bacon  is  treated  with  borax 
for  the  purpose  of  curing  and  hardening  the  tissue  of  the  meat. 
This  borax  is  then  classed  as  a preservative  for  the  meat  and  is 
not  understood  to  be  a true  case  of  adulteration  of  the  meat, 
but  constitutes  a serious  menace  to  health  and  is  truly  an  adulter- 
ation of  the  food.  Suppose  that  we  find  in  a beverage  like 
ground  coffee,  such  materials  as  date  stones,  olive  stones,  beans, 
peas,  caramel,  etc.  These  ingredients  lessen  the  quality  and 
value  of  food  without  adding  any  delterous  quality  to  the 
food.  The  person  consuming  pays  only  for  the  loss  of  quali- 
ty or  flavor  and  loses  only  flavor  and  not  food  value.  On  the 
other  hand,  when  oysters  are  shipped  under  conditions  that 
permit  ice  to  be  brought  into  contact  with  the  oysters,  then 
the  person  consuming  the  oysters  suffers  not  only  from  an  in- 
crease of  volume  due  to  the  absorption  of  the  water  by  the 
oyster,  but  the  water  causes  fermentation  and  in  many  cases 
putrefaction  to  take  place  in  the  oysters.  The  patient  who  eats 
oysters  indiscriminately  is  liable  to  great  danger  of  ptomaine 
poisoning  when  oysters  are  in  contact  with  ice.  The  proper 
way  of  shipping  oysters  is  to  place  the  oysters  in  clean  steri- 
lized cans  as  soon  as  they  are  removed  from  the  shell,  and  to 
have  the  can  sealed  within  a very  short  time.  It  is  a well 
known  fact  that  oysters  will  absorb  a very  large  amount  of 
water  on  being  placed  in  fresh  water  as  soon  as  they  are  re- 
moved from  the  shell.  It  has  been  reported  by  a good  authori- 
ty that  the  oyster  flesh  will  absorb  30  per  cent  of  water  in  the 
first  thirty  minutes  after  being  removed  from  the  sea  and  be- 
ing placed  in  fresh  water. 

Take  the  case  of  dried  fruits  of  the  stone  variety  which  un- 
dergo the  process  of  sulphuring.  These  fruits  are  for  the  most 
part  treated  in  this  matter  in  California.  The  usual  custom  is 
to  cut  the  peach,  or  plum,  etc.,  in  halves  and  place  the  halves 
in  trays  with  the  cups  up;  then  the  trays  are  placed  in  large 
ovens  over  fumes  of  sulphur  dioxide  and  allowed  to  be  exposed 
to  these  fumes  of  sulphur  till  the  cups  fill  with  water  or  liquid 
from  the  fruit.  They  contain  a considerable  amount  of  sulphur 


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dioxide  when  treated  in  this  manner.  Now  the  fruit  is  taken 
out  from  the  oven  in  the  trays  and  the  trays  are  placed  out  in 
the  sun  to  dry.  The  peaches  are  not  necessarily  peeled  nor 
are  the  imperfect  ones  freed  from  the  worm  holes  and  rotten 
places.  The  sulphur  dioxide  has  discolored  these  places  and 
put  them  into  such  a condition  as  to  make  them  appear  never 
to  have  had  a worm  hole  nor  rotten  place.  After  thorough 
drying,  the  fruit  is  put  into  large  bins  and  kept  till  orders  come 
in  for  shipment.  Insects  have  access  to  this  fruit  at  times  and 
if  they  deposit  excrement  or  eggs  upon  the  fruit,  the  remedy  is 
moistening,  and  sulphuring  again,  after  which  they  are  run 
through  a mill  and  the  refuse  fanned  out  of  them.  Dried  fruits 
may  undergo  as  many  as  four  such  processes  before  they 
reach  the  real  consumer.  This  practice  is  common  among  the 
large  fruit  growers  and  one  who  is  uncrupulous  causes  consid- 
erable harm  with  his  fruit. 

Still  another  kind  of  this  adulteration  is  that  of  meats 
stored  for  undue  times  at  the  large  refrigerating  plants  of  our 
country.  To  be  sure  the  United  States  government  has  of  late 
years  corrected  a very  bad  practice  of  former  times,  in  causing 
meats  to  be  withdrawn  from  these  storage  places  after  a cer- 
tain limit  of  time.  If  meat  is  withdrawn  from  the  original 
storage,  and  placed  in  cold  storage  a second  time,  the  decompo- 
sition is  much  more  rapid  than  if  kept  continuously  in  stoirage 
in  the  first  place.  This  decomposition  renders  the  food  unfit  for 
use. 

Eggs  are  another  example  of  food  that  is  sold  in  so  many 
ways  under  so  many  different  classes.  The  ordinary  person  of 
this  region  knows  but  very  little  about  eggs  other  than  fresh 
country  eggs,  but  in  the  larger  cities  there  are  numerous  var- 
ities  of  eggs  sold  for  consumption. 

Another  class  of  adulteration  that  does  not  do  any  partic- 
ular bodily  harm  to  the  person  consuming  the  food  is  that  of 
substituting  a cheaper  material  for  a more  expensive  one. 
Take  the  relish  oils  for  example.  Rormerly  it  was  supposed 
that  the  relish  oils  were  all  olive  oils.  This  was  before  cotton- 
seed oil,  sesame  oil,  rape  seed  oil  etc.  were  introduced  as  edible 
oils.  There  is  no  particular  lessening  of  the  food  value  in 
replacing  olive  oil  by  these  latter  oils,  but  the  value  in  money 
is  much  less  for  these  latter  oils  than  for  olive  oil.  The  manu- 
facturer who  substitutes  these  cheaper  ingredients  for  the  more 
costly  ones,  practices  a theft  as  veritable  as  if  he  put  his 


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hand  into  one’s  pocket  book  and  took  his  money.  The  con- 
sumer may  lessen  the  expense  of  the  upkeep  of  his  table  by 
using  these  cheaper  ingrdients,  but  he  should  not  be  made  to 
pay  the  price  of  the  more  expensive  for  the  lower  priced  material 

Vinegars  are  notorious  examples  of  such  adulterations. 
Most  of  the  vinegars  on  the  market  are  not  cider  vinegars  at 
all.  Most  of  them  are  colored  distilled  vinegars  that  resemble 
cider  vinegar  in  color.  The  food  laws  anticipate  that  all  vin- 
egar labeled  vinegar  is  cider  vinegar.  Cider  vinegar  as  common- 
ly made  is  probably  the  poorest  vinegar  on  the  mairket.  It  is 
made  from  unassorted  apples  and  the  first  runnings  of  the 
juice  are  saved  for  fancy  cider  and  the  pulp  is  treated  with 
water  and  then  allowed  to  ferment  in  large  tanks  and  bottled 
and  barrelled  under  peculiar  conditions.  Malt  vinegar  is  much 
to  be  preferred  to  cider  vinegar  under  all  circumstances.  It  is 
cleanly  and  purer  than  any  other  except  white  distilled  vinegar. 
The  consumer  could  rid  himself  of  many  difficulties  if  he  would 
read  the  labels  carefully,  which  are  placed  upon  the  articles  of 
food.  Many  times  he  would  not  purchase  the  article  if  he  knew 
what  the  label  said  and  understood  what  the  ingredients  stated 
on  the  labels  were.  A bottle  of  vanilla  extract  is  sufficient  for 
most  people  if  the  words  vanilla  extract  are  across  the  label, 
no  matter  what  qualifying  words  follow  or  precede  these  words. 
A package  of  condensed  mince  meat,  no  matter  what  it  contains, 
so  long  as  condensed  mince  meat  is  written  on  the  label,  is 
satisfactory  to  most  people.  The  vanilla  extract  may  contain 
coal  tar  vanillin  and  be  a substitute  vanilla,  so  long  as  it  can  be 
procured  for  a dime  that  is  all  that  is  necessary.  It  may  be  a 
coumarin  extract,  and  so  long  as  it  will  give  a certain  amount 
of  flavoring  value  and  can  be  had  for  a dime,  that  is  sufficient, 
The  mince  meat  may  contain  nothing  but  fruits,  spices,  starch, 
flour,  etc.  It  is  alright  as  long  as  it  contains  no  harmful  ma- 
terial. But  the  term  mince  meat  is  very  misleading.  But  few 
mince  meats  contain  any  meat  whatever  except  the  meat  of 
the  dried  apple  and  the  other  fruit.  True  vanilla  extract  can 
not  be  bought  for  less  than  25  cents  per  fluid  ounce  and  the 
merchant  do  not  make  any  profit  on  the  product  at  all.  So 
when  you  get  a fluid  ounce  for  one  dime  you  must  of  necessity 
get  something  other  than  true  extract  of  vanilla. 

From  the  above  it  is  clearly  seen  that  the  reading  of  the 
label  will  reveal  the  true  nature  of  the  second  class  of  food 
adulterations  mentioned  earlier  in  my  paper. 


SANITARY  SURVEYS 

Dr.  Gayfree  Ellison,  Professor  of  Bacteriology, 
University  of  Oklahoma. 

Mr.  President,  Members  of  the  Municipal  League,  Ladies 
and  Gentlemen:  In  the  limited  time  assigned  I shall  not  read 
a paper  but  merely  outline  some  of  the  work  and  the  object 
of  a sanitary  survey.  The  object  of  a sanitary  survey  in  a given 
community  is  to  locate  and  point  out  those  conditions  that  are 
detrimental  to  health.  The  final  report  is  by  no  means  a real 
estate  prospectus,  as  it  will  of  necessity  show  the  worst,  not  the 
best  side  of  the  town. 

In  Oklahoma  we  have  been  so  busy  developing  the  country 
and  building  our  towns  and  cities,  that  we  have  overlooked 
many  of  those  little  and  big  things  that  go  to  make  up  a thor- 
oughly sanitary  and  healthful  community.  The  small  towns  in 
Oklahoma  need  sanitary  surveys  more  than  the  larger  cities  so 
I have  outlined  a scheme  of  survey  for  small  towns.  We  shall 
endeavor  to  explain  the  chart  you  see  before  you. 

Practically  all  of  our  towns  have  grown  rapidly  from  country 
Ullages  to  cities  of  from  4000  to  75,000  in  the  past  twenty  years. 
The  sanitary  equipment  has  been  provided  to  meet  the  require- 
enmts  of  the  growth  of  these  towns.  For  instance,  sewer  sys- 
tems have  been  installed,  improvements  and  extensions  added, 
but  we  have  failed  to  enforce  laws  compelling  people  to  prop- 
erly connect  with  them.  There  are  numerous  other  conditions 
of  neglect  that  a sanitary  survey  will  bring  out. 

A house  to  house  canvass  by  competent  inspectors,  is  neces- 
sary to  locate  these  conditions. 

The  first  headline  on  our  chart  is  Topography.  The  proper 
drainage  of  a town  is  an  important  matter  in  relation  to  sanit- 
ary conditions.  Under  this  headline  we  have  placed  soil  forma- 
tion; whether  sandy  or  limestone.  The  soil  formation  makes 
quite  a difference  in  the  water  supply  of  a community  and  the 
possibility  of  contaminating  shallow  wells.  A sandy  formation 
acts  as  a sand  filter  and  therefore  the  water  supply  is  protected. 
A limestone  formation  may  have  underground  streams,  and  a 
contamination  may  travel  for  some  distance  underground. 

Many  towns  have  a pond  in,  or  near  the  town.  The  real 


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estate  men  and  proud  citizens,  will  refer  to  this  as  a beautiful 
lake.  The  sanitarian  will  invariably  condemn  this  “lake”  be- 
cause it  contains  stagnant  water,  the  favourite  breeding  place 
for  mosquitos. 

We  next  consider  the  sanitary  conditions  of  the  town  in 
general  with  special  reference  to  streets,  alleys,  and  vacant  lots. 
These  are  real  problems  in  sanitation,  because  they  are  every- 
body’s property  with  no  one  responsible  for  their  condition. 
Vacant  lots  gradually  become  a dumping  ground  for  all  kinds 
of  rubbish,  are  neglected  and  become  unsightly.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  the  alleys  and  even  some  of  the  streets.  If  the  survey 
calls  our  attention  to  these  matters  the  nuisance  will  usually  be 
corrected.  It  is  the  business  of  the  city  organization  to  see  that 
these  places  are  kept  clean. 

One  of  the  crying  needs  in  Oklahoma,  is  the  matter  of  sewage 
disposal.  A sanitary  sewage  system  is  the  best  and  most  econ- 
omical method  of  disposal.  A survey  wTill  bring  out  whether  the 
system  is  adequately  constructed,  if  all  houses  are  properly 
connected  and  where  connections  are  not  made.  An  open  privy 
is  always  objectionable,  but  much  more  so  when  it  is  located  in 
a sanitary  district. 

In  those  parts  of  the  town  where  the  sanitary  sewer  does  not 
extend  and  in  towns  where  a sewer  system  is  not  installed,  a 
privy  is  necessary.  It  should  be  properly  constftucetd  so  as  to  be 
the  least  objectionable  and  dangerous,  and  so  located  that  water 
supplies  are  not  endangered.  We  find  that  this  is  a very  much  ne- 
glected condition  in  all  towns.  Practically  all  of  the  privies  in 
Oklahoma  are  of  the  open  type,  poorly  constructed  and  not 
protected  against  flies  and  animals.  This  is  a serious  matter 
and  methods  of  improvement  must  be  instituted  in  all  our  cit- 
ies. If  the  sanitary  survey  should  locate  all  open  privies  in  a 
town  and  indicate  them  on  the  city  map  by  a red  tack,  the 
average  citizen  would  blush  with  shame  and  demand  that  the 
nuisance  be  abated. 

Take  the  matter  of  storage  and  collection  of  garbage.  Gar- 
bage may  be  said  to  be  anything  that  is  discarded  and  allowed 
to  accumulate  about  the  place.  It  includes  kitchen  waste,  old 
tin  cans,  trash,  ashes  and  stable  manure,  etc.  Kitchen  wast 
should  be  placed  in  tight  cans  protected  against  flies  and  fre- 
quently removed  from  the  premises.  Tin  cans  are  not  partic- 
ularly unsanitary  but  are  unsightly  . Stable  manure  is  the  prin- 
cipal breeding  place  of  the  house  fly.  It  is  necessary  to  store 


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it  on  the  premises  as  it  accumulates,  but  it  should  be  placed  in  a 
screened  box  or  pen  where  flies  cannot  get  to  it  and  lay  their 
eggs.  This  would  materially  reduce  the  fly  population. 

The  water  supply  of  a city  is  of  prime  importance.  In 
larger  cities  there  is  usually  a municipal  water  supply.  We  con- 
sider the  source  of  this  supply,  the  method  of  storage  and  dis- 
tribution over  the  city.  With  the  exception  of  ground  water 
all  water  supply  should  be  efficiently  purified  by  some  approved 
method  in  order  to  be  safe.  The  survey  estimates  the  amount 
of  water  used  per  capita  and  the  cost  of  production.  Water 
is  a sanitary  necessity  and  the  higher  cost  of  water  the  less  will 
be  used,  hence  lowering  hygienic  conditions.  Water  that  can 
be  produced  and  sold  at  a reasonable  rate  is  used  liberal- 

ly- 

Smaller  towns  and  villages  usually  depend  upon  shallow  wells 
for  their  water  supply.  Therefore  the  survey  considers  their 
kind,  whether  shallow,  deep,  open  or  closed,  and  their  con- 
dition, whether  protected  against  surface  drainage  or  subject 
to  such.  The  survey  should  show  the  location  of  each  well,  its 
distance  from  the  open  privy  and  barn  yard,  and  the  condition 
of  the  water  in  a well,  both  from  a chemical  and  bacteriologi- 
cal standpoint.  Those  wells  that  are  found  to  be  dangerous 
should  be  condemned  and  abandoned.  e 

Milk  is  probably  our  most  important  food  product,  espec- 
ially as  it  is  the  sole  diet  of  young  infants.  We  find,  however, 
that  most  of  our  milk  is  carelessly  handled  by  dirty  people. 
Of  all  food,  milk  is  the  best  culture  medium  for  the  great  group 
of  disease  producing  organisms.  These  organisms  grow  and 
multiply  very  rapidly  in  milk.  A single  typhoid  organism  placed 
in  a quart  of  milk  in  the  morning  will  have  several  million  off- 
spring by  evening;  consequently  a big  dose  of  bacilli  is  taken 
and  typhoid  infection  is  almost  invariable.  Our  survey  at- 
tempts to  point  out  the  conditions  of  the  milk  supply.  All 
dairies  supplying  the  town  are  located  and  the  general  sani- 
tary conditions  considered,  such  as  the  milk  house,  whether  it 
is  clean  and  sanitary  and  whether  it  is  protected  by  screens 
against  flies.  Very  few  of  the  small  dairies  have  a milk  house. 
The  milk  is  handled  in  the  barn  or  in  the  kitchen,  where  it  is 
subject  to  much  contamination  and  so  becomes  the  source  of 
untold  illness  in  the  community.  We  also  note  the  methods  of 
distribution  of  milk,  whether  in  dirty  cans  or  in  clean  bottles. 
The  health  and  cleanliness  of  the  employees  on  the  dairy 


114 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


farm  is  also  noted,  as  the  wholesomeness  of  the  milk  depends 
upon  them.  An  individual  suffering  from  tuberculosis  or  one 
who  has  recently  recovered  from  any  infectious  disease  should 
not  be  allowed  to  handle  the  milk. 

We  should  know  the  grade  and  quality  of  milk  that  is  being 
sold  in  the  city.  The  only  way  to  find  this  out  is  by  laboratory 
tests  which  shouid  be  made  at  frequent  intervals.  This  is  the  on- 
ly way  that  people  can  know  whethe-  they  are  buying  a low 
grade  article  with  dirt,  filth  and  infection  or  a clean  and  sani- 
tary high  grade  milk.  Every  town  in  Oklahoma  with  a popu- 
lation over  1000  could  well  afford  to  have  a permanent:  inspector 
and  a well  equpped  laboratory  where  milk,  cream  and  other 
food  products  could  be  examined  regularly. 

All  cows  producing  milk  for  a community  should  be  regu- 
larly inspected  by  a competent  veterinary  surgeon  to  ascertain 
the  condition  of  their  health.  Dairy  cows  are  subject  to  tuberco- 
losis,  a disease  transmitted  to  man  in  milk  from  infected  cows. 
All  dairy  cows  should  be  tuberculin  tested  at  least  once  a year 
and  certificates  issued. 

Our  next  topic  is  the  dwelling  house  and  its  premises.  Note 
the  condition,  construction,  location  and  sanitary  surroundings. 
Whether  overcrowded,  whether  screened  and  protected  against 
flies  and  mosquitos.  The  sanitary  condition  and  location  of  the 
stable,  hog  pen  and  chicken  yard  are  things  to  be  noted.  The 
hog  pen  is  gradually  being  driven  out  of  our  towns,  not  partic- 
ularly because  it  is  unsanitary,  but  because  it  is  a general  nuis- 
ance on  acount  of  the  odor  and  noise  created. 

The  number  and  kind  of  domestic  animals  on  the  premises, 
such  as  horses,  cows,  dogs,  cats  and  chickens  are  recorded. 
Horses,  cows  and  chickens  litter  up  the  barnyard  and  unless 
special  pains  are  taken,  the  excrement  accumulates  and  becomes 
a nuisance.  The  survey  is  interested  in  the  cats  and  dogs  pri- 
marily because  they  convey  disease  to  man.  The  dog  is  the 
principal  animal  that  conveys  rabies  or  hydrophobia.  We  have 
more  rabies  in  the  State  of  Oklahoma  each  year  than  in  the  en- 
tire continent  of  Europe,  because  we  have  made  no  provision 
to  get  rid  of  it.  The  spread  of  rabies  is  easy  to  control.  All 
we  have  to  do  is  to  get  rid  of  the  stray,  homeless  dogs  and  en- 
force a dog  muzzling  act  for  a year  or  two.  The  more  worth- 
less dogs  there  are  in  a community,  the  greater  the  danger  from 
rabies.  Cats  are  a menace  to  health  in  several  ways.  As  they 
usually  live  indoors  they  come  in  contact  with  the  diseases  of 


University  of  Oklahoma 


115 


man,  and  frequently  become  carriers  of  infection.  For  instance, 
if  a child  suffering  from  scarlet  fever  plays  with  a pet  cat  and 
later  the  cat  goes  over  to  the  neighbors,  it  may  carry  the  in- 
fection on  its  fur  and  spread  the  disease.  The  object  of  a sur- 
vey is  to  discourage  the  keeping  of  cats  and  dogs  in  town,  es- 
pecially those  allowed  to  run  at  large  on  the  streets. 

The  sanitary  survey  finds  the  business  houses  quite  a prob- 
lem because  there  are  so  many  kinds  and  their  relation  to  san- 
itary conditions  so  variable.  The  really  important  ones,  how- 
ever, are  those  where  food  is  produced,  stored  or  sold.  The  sar*«. 
itary  conditions  of  these  and  the  methods  used  in  handling  food 
products  should  be  known. 

In  the  meat  market  we  note  the  kind  of  meat  sold.  Govern- 
ment inspected  meat  is  the  safest.  It  is  regretable  that  small 
or  local  butchers  often  handle  meat  in  an  unsanitary  and  un- 
safe way,  and  not  infrequently  sells  diseased  meat.  Many  of  the 
meat  markets  themselves  are  unsanitary;  the  meat  is  kept  in 
unsanitary  iceboxes,  and  is  not  protected  against  flies,  animals 
and  dirt.  Go  into  the  average  grocery  store  in  Oklahoma  a*  d 
see  where  they  keep  their  dried  and  salt  meats.  You  will  usually 
find  them  on  an  open  table  or  shelf  where  they  are  subject  to 
contamination  from  dirt,  cats,  rats  and  flies. 

The  bakery  is  an  important  place.  “Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread,”  but  let  us  have  it  clean.  Cleanliness  ir.  the  bake- 
house, the  utensils  and  employees  are  important  factors  too 
often  neglected.  One  of  the  State  Board  of  Health  Inspectors 
looked  into  a bakery  in  a certain  town  in  Oklahoma  and  a lit- 
tle negro  boy  pusned  his  head  up  out  of  the  tray  in  which  the 
bread  was  mixed.  He  had  dropped  in  there  for  a nap  because 
it  was  warm.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  satiitan'  condition 
of  such  a bakery  was  far  below  par.  The  bakery  should  be  clean, 
protected  against  flies,  and  the  employees  healthy  and  clean. 
All  market  bread  should  be  cooled  and  wrapped  in  oiled  paper 
to  protect  it  against  dirty  hands,  cloths  and  wagons. 

Many  lunch  rooms  and  resturants  are  filthy,  a menace  to 
health  and  a source  for  the  spread  of  infectious  diseases.  The  n°xt 
time  you  go  into  a lunch  room  observe  the  method  of  display- 
ing food.  Pies,  sandwiches,  cheese  and  other  articles  of  food 
are  exposed  on  open  counters  where  rats,  cats,  flies,  and  dust 
contaminate  the  food.  Then  go  back  into  the  kitchen  and  see 
the  conditions  there.  It  will  just  about  end  your  trips  to  the 
lunch  room.  All  lunch  counters  and  resturants  should  be  com- 


116  The  University  of  Oklahoma 

pelled  to  keep  the  food  on  display  in  screened  or  protected 
cases. 

The  survey  should  sum  up  the  sanitary  laws  of  the  city;  what 
provision  for  the  protection  of  health  has  been  made  and  ordi- 
nances and  methods  and  results  in  enforcing*  these  laws.  Wc 
spend  money  liberally  for  police  and  fire  protection,  b/ut  have  not 
reached  that  point  in  our  civilization  where  we  believed  that  an 
ounce  of  prevention  against  disease  is  worth  a pound  of  cure. 

Finally  a summary  of  the  report  and  recommendations  is 
tmade.  In  summing  up  the  results  of  a sanitary  survey  a very 
convenient  and  convincing  manner  of  showing  the  san- 
itary conditions,  and  one  that  would  have  striking  results  would 
be  to  take  a map  or  plat  of  the  city  and  designate  each  and  ev- 
ery unsanitary  condition  found  by  some  mark  or  sign,  such  as 
different  colored  tacks.  For  instance,  every  open  privy  could 
be  designated  with  a red  colored  tack;  unsanitary  wells  with 
black  colored  tacks;  and  all  typhoid  cases  by  green  colored 
tacks.  Stables,  hog  pens,  etc.,  should  be  designated  by  other 
colors.  The  visual  instruction  of  such  a map  would  be  valuable. 

When  you  come  to  sum  up,  you  would  find  a direct  relation 
between  the  open  privy,  the  unsanitary  well  and  typhoid  fever 
in  a town.  The  one  is  the  result  of  the  other.  You  have  before 
you  such  a map  of  one  of  our  Oklahoma  towns  where  a san- 
itary survey  was  recently  made.  Note  the  cases  of  typhoid 
fever,  designated  here  with  red  colored  tacks  and  its  relation 
to  the  open  privy  and  infected  wells  designated  here  by  green 
and  yellow  colored  tacks  respectively.  Any  town  in  Oklahoma 
•with  a population  of  2000  or  mx>re  would  “show  up”  as  bad  or 
worse  than  this  if  a sanitary  map  were  made  and  exhibited. 

Gentlemen,  the  time  is  up.  We  hope  we  have  been  able  to 
in  a way  point  out  the  value  of  the  sanitary  survey  in  promoting 
the  health  of  a town.  The  cost  of  such  a survqfy  is  consider- 
able, but  if  taken  in  the  right  spirit,  would  be  invaluable  to  the 
community. 


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SCHEME  OF  SANITARY  SURVEY  OF  A TOWN 

1.  TOPOGRAPHY 
Natural  Drainage 
Soil  Formation 

sandy,  clay,  limestone. 

Stagnant  Water 

ponds,  pools,  fountains. 

2.  S A/NIT  ARY  CONDITION 
Streets,  Alleys,  Vacant  Lots,  etc. 

3.  SEWAGE  DISPOSAL 
Sanitary  Sewage  Syste/m 

number  of  connections,  etc. 

Open  privies 

Kind,  condition,  location,  miethods  of  cleaning,  protection 
against  flies,  etc. 

4.  GARBAGE  DISPOSAL 

Methods  of  Storage  on  Premises,  Protection,  Collection, 
Hauling,  Disposal, 

Stable  Refuse. 

collection,  protection,  disposal. 

5.  WATER  SUPPLY 
Municipal, 

sources,  storage,  distribution,  purification,  efficiency, 
amount  used  per  capita,  cost,  etc. 

Wells. 

Kind,  (shallow,  deep,  dug,  drilled,  etc.)  Protection  against 
surface  drainage.  Location,  distance  from  open  privy, 
barn,  hog  pen.  Condition  of  water,  chemical,  and  bac- 
teriological. 

6.  MILK  SUPPLY 
Dairies 

Location,  sanitary  condition  of  barn,  lot,  etc.  Milk-house 
protection  against  flies,  rats,  etc.  Methods  of  handling 
and  distribution.  Health  of  employees,  infectious  diseases. 
Cows,  grade,  health,  tuberchiline  test,  cleanliness,  food, 
etc.  Grade  of  milk  and  cream.  Chemical  and  bacteriologi- 
cal tests.  Inspection. 


118  The  University  of  Oklahoma 

U HOUSING  ' 

Construction,  sanitary  surroundings,  plumbing,  methods 
of  sewage  and  garbage  disposal,  screened,  overcrowded, 
etc.,  typhoid  fever  on  premises. 

Stable,  Hog  pen  and  Outhouses 

Distance  from  house,  sanitary  condition,  etc. 

Domestic  Animals. 

cows,  horses,  dogs,  cats,  chickens. 

8.  BUISNESS  HOUSES 

Special  reference  to  places  where  food  is  sold  or  served. 
Grocery. 

cleanliness,  screened,  employees. 

Meat  Market 

kind  of  meat,  refrigeration,  etc. 

Bakeries. 

Cleanliness,  method  handling  bread  and  dough. 
Restaurants,  Lunch  Counters,  Hotels,  etc. 

Sanitary  condition,  food  exposed,  etc. 

9.  SANITARY  LAWS,  ORDINANCES 
Methods  of  Enforcing. 

10.  SUMMARY. 

11.  RECOMMENDATIONS. 


THE  QUESTION  BOX 

Answers  by  V.  V.  Hardcastle,  formerly  Assistant  Municipal 
Counsellor,  Oklahoma  City,  assisted  by  Prof.  C.  H.  Talbot  of 
Kansas,  Secretary  of  the  Kansas  League  of  Municipalities  and 
head  of  the  Municipal  Reference  Bureau,  University  of  Kans- 
as. 

Section  1.,  Article  7,  City  Charter  of  the  city  of  El  Reno, 
Teads  as  follows: 

Sec.  1.  The  Board  of  Commissioners  shall,  by  ordinance  or 
resolution,  on  or  before  the  second  Monday  of  July  in  each  year, 
levy  an  ad  valorem  tax  for  all  purposes  except  as  herein  other- 
wise provided,  not  to  exceed  the  limit  provided  by  the  consti- 
tution of  the  State  of  Oklahoma,  which  levy  shall  include  the 
levy  for  park  and  library  purposes.  Said  ordinance  or  resolu- 
tions shall  specify  distinctly  the  purpose  for  which  said  tax  is 
levied,  and  no  tax  levied  and  collected  for  one  purpose  shall 


University  of  Oklahoma  119 

\ [)'  Hfr'fii 

ever  be  diverted  to  any  other  purpose.  The  tax  so  levied,  when 
collected  shall  be  kept  in  the  fund  created. 

Sec.  2.  The  Board  of  Commissioners  shall,  on  or  before  the 
sejcond  Monday  in  July  of  each  year,  levy  sufficient  additional 
revenue  to  create  a sinking  fund  to  be  used  first,  for  the  pay- 
ment of  interest  coupons  as  they  fall  due;  second,  for  the  pay- 
ment of  bonds  as  thdy  fall  due;  third  *********** 

We  now  have  a statute  wherin  it  is  provided  that  an  Excise 
Board,  composed  of  certain  county  officials,  shall  make  all  lev- 
ies and  the  various  subdivisions  of  the  county  are  required  to 
make  an  estimate  of  their  needs  for  the  next  fiscal  year  and 
certify  same  to  this  board. 

Would  the  provisions  of  the  charter  supersede  the  statute 
in  regard  to  making  the  levies? 

Answer:  It  is  necessary  to  explain  that  each  charter  in  the 
various  cities  of  a state  is  usually  copied  after  another,  and  the 
first  one  drawn  and  adopted  in  a state  usually  becomes  the 
guide  for  those  which  come  after,  so  you  will  find  in  practically 
all  of  them  similar  provisions  relating  to  the  general  subject  of 
taxation.  You  will  also  discover  upon  examination  that  in  the 
charters  of  our  Oklahoma  cities  the  framers,  upon 
this  subject,  have  simply  written  the  state  law  existing  at  that 
time  into  the  charters. 

You  must  likewise  remember  that  in  the  statutes  and  con- 
stitutional provisions  relating  to  the  adoption  of  charters  that 
they  must  conform  to  and  “shall  not  be  in  conflict  with  the  con- 
stitution and  general  laws  of  the  state.” 

The  question  of  taxation  is  one  of  general  law,  and  there  is 
in  my  opinion  no  dc»ubt  about  the  proposition  that  the 
statutes,  relating  to  that  subject,  which  have  been  passed  sub- 
sequent to  the  adoption  of  the  charter  will  supercede  the  charter 
provisions,  and  that  the  city  governments  have  to  look  to  the 
general  laws  of  the  state  to  find  out  the  regulations  governing 
them  relative  to  taxation. 

Question  2.  Can  an  ordinance  carrying  an  emergency  be 
referred  to  the  people  of  the  city  under  the  initiative  and  refer- 
endum of  the  state,  said  ordinance  being  passed  under  the 
councilman’s  form  of  government? 

Answer.  To  the  question  in  that  form  I will  say  No.  An 
ordinance  passed  with  the  emergency  becomes  immediately  a 
law,  and  cannot  be  referred,  under  the  referendum.  Under  the 
initiative  power,  however,  the  ordinance  could  be  submitted  to 


120 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 

the  peoplte,  upon  a proposition  to  repeal  it.  Because  of  this  fact 
is  the  (reason  most  of  our  city  governments,  now,  pass  their 
ordinances  with  an  emergency  clause  attached. 

Question  3.  With  a municipally  owned  water  plant,  is  it 
le}gal  to  put  the  funds  of  the  water  department  in  the  general 
fund? 

Answer.  No.  Even  the  interest  on  the  water  funds  can  not  be 
legally  mingled  with  the  general  fund.  The  water  fund  is  dis- 
tinctly separate  arising  from  the  possession  or  ownership  pow- 
ers of  the  city  which  is  distinct  from  its  governmental  functions 
to  which  the  general  funds  have  relation. 

Question:  Do  I understand  that  funds  of  the  water  works 
cannot  be  applied  for  salaries  or  anything  else? 

Answer:  No,  sir,  not  legally,  except  for  salaries  growing 
out  of  the  operation  of  the  water  department. 

Question:  In  case  you  had  a supply  you  did  not  need? 

Answer:  Under  the  statutes  you  are  not  supposed  to  have 
any  surplus.  It  is  your  duty  to  make  your  rates  cover  the 
running  expenses,  interest  and  sinking  fund,  to  retire  the  bonds 
if  any,  and  to  keep  up  the  plant  in  good  repair. 

Question:  Where  do  ygjra  get  your  authority  for  that? 

Answer:  From  the  statutes,  and  they  are  based  upon  the 
theony  that  the  operation  of  the  water  plan  by  the  city  is  not  a 
governmental  function  but  is  merely  its  possession  right  of  a 
public  utility.  A city  owned  water  plant  is  nevertheless  a pub- 
lic utility,  and  the  courts  make,  in  this  instance,  a strong  dis- 
tinction between  the  governmental  and  possession  powers  of  the 
municipality. 

Question:  That  same  application  you  make  to  water  plants 
would  apply  to  electric  light  plants? 

Answer:  Yes, sir,  to  all  public  utilities,  municipally  owned 
street  railways  or  telephones  may  be  included  in  the  same  class. 
The  law  requires,  upon  similar  rules  applying  to  privately  own- 
ed public  utilities,  that  the  rates  be  so  adjusted  that  they  cover 
the  interest,  sinking  funds  to  retire  bonds,  if  any,  a reasonable 
return  upon  the  money  invested,  after  paying  operating  ex- 
penses and  allowing  for  up-keep. 

Question:  But  aren’t  the  bonds  and  sinking  fund  collected 
from  the  taxpayers,  generally? 

Answer:  In  actual  practice  they  frequently  are  but  should 
not  be  if  you  follow  the  law. 

Question:  Isn’t  it  a fact  that  all  cities  and  towns  keep  their 


University  of  Oklahoma 


I 


water  works  business  separate  from  other  city  funds? 

Answer:  They  should  do  it. 

Question:  Is  the  law  passed  by  the  legislature  giving  the 
city  power  to  construct  sidewalks  self  executive,  or  must  an 
ordinance  be  passed  to  put  it  into  effect? 

Answer:  The  formality  of  passing  a subsequent  city  ordi- 
nance following  the  line  of  the  state  statute  is  printer’s  ink 
wasted.  There  is  no  necessity  for  anything  of  that  sort. 

Question:  Can  a city  of  the  first  class  under  the  general 
law  require  an  occupation  tax  of  religious  organizations  run- 
ning a public  dining  hall  where  the  proceeds  are  devoted  to  re- 
ligious purposes? 

Answer:  The  fact  that  those  proceeds  happen  to  go  to  re- 
ligious purposes  in  my  opinion  wo  uldn’t  affect  the  question;  if 
the  city  officials  had  enough  bravery  and  nerve  to  make  the 
religious  bodies  pay  the  tax  they  could  unquestionably  do  so. 

Question:  In  cases  appealed  from  the  city  court  to  county 
court  can  the  costs  of  prosecution  be  charged  as  a part  of  the 
judgment? 

Answer:  Yes,  sir;  it  should  be  taxed  and  can  be.  In  our  city 
we  have  a city  ordinance  covering  this  point  however.  I think  the 
law  would  require  that  this  be  taxed  to  the  costs  as  incidental  to 
it. 

Question:  In  regard  to  municipal  owned  water  works,  has 
the  city  the  right  to  sell  to  sustomers  outside;  for  instance,  to 
another  town? 

Answer:  Yes,  sir;  the  constitution  says  that  the  city  may  en- 
gage in  any  line  of  business,  which  it  has  power  to  grant  a 
franchise  to  a person  to  do. 

Question:  Would  they  have  to  charge  the  other  city  the 
same  rate  they  charged  their  own? 

Answer:  Our  relation  as  a city  to  a public  utility  is  the  same 
as  a private  person  to  a bublic  utility.  They  rr^ay  have  a 
reasonable  interest  on  their  money,  and  their  operating  ex- 
penses. The  city  has  only  the  right  to  keep  tqj fllfe  cdst  and  pay 
the  expenses  and  interest  on  bonds,  and  to  make  their  charges 
accordingly.  They  have  to  make  their  iratejsf  f\fith  .tj^is  end  in 
view.  All  public  utilities  are  based  on  that  'uieefry.  O 

Question:  What  is  the  most  equitable  rate  in  water  charges? 

Answer:  I am  not  going  to  attempt  at  this  time  to  answer 
that  question  in  full;  it  would  be  impossible  to  make  one 
answer  go  for  every  case.  There  are  hundreds  of  underlying 


The  University  of  Oklahoma 


principles  that  might  be  of  interest.  In  the  first  place,  this 
question  is  all  based,  and  irefers  back  to  the  principal  of  as- 
sessing water  rates.  There  are  two  general  principles. 

First:  The  postage  stamp  principle,  and  second,  the  graded 
scale  principle.  The  postage  stamp  principle  charges  every- 
body the  same  whether  they  buy  1,000  gallons  or  100,000  gal- 
lons; the  same  rate  per  1,000.  That  is  in  force  in  many  cities: 
in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  Milwaukee.  They  charge  everybody 
the  same.  In  my  view  there  is  a fine  justification  and  policy 
in  this  system.  You  can  understand  the  elements  that  have  en- 
tered into  that.  Some  big  consumers  said  they  ought  to  have 
a lower  rate  and  the  commission  submitted  a plan  whereby 
the  little  fellows  would  be  charged  a higher  rate  and  the  big 
fellows  a lower  rate.  It  was  a mere  Suggestion  which  has  placed 
before  the  people  and  it  wasn’t  in  the  nature  of  a decree,  and 
the  commission  wouldn’t  approve  of  it,  but  allowed  the  old  rates 
to  stand.  That  is  the  postage  stamp  principle. 

The  other  is  the  cost  principle,  the  principle  that  it  costs 
relatively  a larger  amount  of  money  to  furnish  a small  amount 
pf  water  than  larger  amounts.  You  may  have  breaks  in  the 
Irates  in  two  ways.  Suppose,  for  example,  from  1,000  to  10,000 
gallons,  25  cents  per  thousand;  1,000  to  20,000,  20  cents  per 
thousand;  1,000  to  30,000,  15  cents  per  thousand;  1,000  to  50,000, 
10  cents  per  thousand;  that  is  one  plan.  But  I think  immediate- 
ly the  difficulty  will  occur  to  you.  A man  useing  10,000  gallons 
is  taxed  at  25  cents  per  thousand;  the  next  man’s  foccet  runs 
overnight  and  it  runs  to  10,500  and  he  then  receives  the  20  cent 
rate.  That  plan  was  knocked  out  by  our  Kansas  Supreme  Court 
as  violating  provision  about  special  privileges.  The  other  prin- 
ciple is  this:  1,000  to  10,000,  25  cents  per  thousand  gallons;  for 
that  in  excess  of  10,000  »up  to  20,000,  20  cents  per  thousand;  for 
that  in  excess  of  20,000  up  to  50,000,  15  cents  per  thousand  gal- 
lons; for  that  in  excess  of  50,000  up  to  100,000,  12  cents  per  1,000: 
and  for  every  bit  of  water  under  these  amounts  he  pays  at  the 
rate  between  that  amount. 

Motion  made  and  carried  to  turn  the  report  of  the  Secre- 
tary over  to  the  boaird  of  trustees  for  auditing. 

ADJOURNED. 


